In disappointing Red Sox season, Crochet has emerged as an ace

Red Sox

“He sets the tone for us. As a ballclub, as a staff. He goes out there and lets it rip.”

Garrett Crochet dominated on the mound Sunday. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Alex Cora wasn’t going to take any chances on Sunday afternoon.

Less than two weeks after the Red Sox manager and the team opted to pull ace Garrett Crochet at 85 pitches and one out in the sixth inning — a predetermined move to monitor his workload — Cora had a simple message for the lefty going into the seventh inning at Truist Park.

“He told me, ‘Let’s keep going.’ And I was fired up,” Crochet said of Cora’s message in the dugout on Sunday afternoon. “I was just hoping it wasn’t for [the first batter] only. It’s like, ‘If you’re gonna send me back out, let me go to work.’ And he did. And a lot of props to AC for having trust in me there.”

The circumstances weren’t necessarily ideal for Crochet. Entering the seventh, Crochet was already sitting at 99 pitches.

But with a much-needed series win at stake, the Red Sox opted to push the envelope with their top pitcher and roll with him again for one more inning.

Crochet’s response? The 25-year-old southpaw struck out the side to close out a dominant outing in the seventh — pumping his fist in triumph after getting Braves slugger Ronald Acuña Jr. to whiff on a cut fastball for the final out of the frame.

Crochet’s ace-level showing on the mound Sunday propelled Boston to a 3-1 win over Atlanta, with the lefty striking out 12 and giving up just one run over his seven innings and career-high 112 pitches of work.

“He has been doing this the whole season,” Cora said postgame of Crochet. “These are the outings that when you look back at the Mets one, we’ve got to pick and choose. At that point, it looked like, ‘What are they doing?’

“But there’s a reason, for us to be aggressive — understanding now we’ve got Thursdays off and he’s gonna get an extra day, we can be more aggressive. We pushed him to the limit and he did an outstanding job.”

As frustrating as this season has been for a Red Sox team that was once viewed as a potential contender in the American League, Crochet has been one of the few bright spots in a spring rife with disappointment.

When the Red Sox parted with a haul of prospects in December to pry Crochet away from the White Sox, Boston was focused on Crochet’s potential and filthy arsenal of pitches, rather than years of established results.

By the time the Red Sox signed Crochet to a six-year, $170 million contract extension at the end of March, he had only logged one start with Boston — and just 151 total innings of work as a starting pitcher in the big leagues.

But, it hasn’t taken long for Crochet to build on the promise he first showcased with Chicago in 2024.

Following Sunday’s win, Crochet is 5-4 with a 1.98 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 101 strikeouts over a league-leading 82 innings of work.

As noted by former Red Sox stat guru J.P. Long, Crochet is one of just six pitchers to record 100-plus strikeouts and post an ERA under 2.00 in his first 13 starts with a team — joining a select group that includes Max Scherzer (Washington), Justin Verlander (Houston), CC Sabathia (Milwaukee), Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh), and Hideo Nomo (Los Angeles).

Sunday was par for the course for Crochet, who produced 23 swing-and-misses against Atlanta over his seven innings of work.

But even with Crochet routinely dominating in his first season with Boston, the Red Sox are still only 7-6 in Crochet’s 13 starts so far this season. Most of that is a byproduct of Boston’s bats failing to build any semblance of a cushion when he’s been on the mound, with the Red Sox scoring three runs or fewer in eight of those 13 matchups.

Boston left Atlanta with a win on Sunday, but Cora stressed that the Red Sox need to generate more offense to give their ace breathing room in critical situations.

“We were joking — great game-planning that we kicked the field goal and played good defense,” Cora said. “We need more. I know there were some at-bats in the middle of the game that we have to correct. We have to be better.

“I know we’re young, but we expect better from this group. The expectations are high in this group for the organization. We gotta put everything behind us. We have to be better than this. We scored three, which is awesome. After that, we didn’t do much.”

The Red Sox have a ways to go if they want to get back on track and move past a miserable May (11-17 record).

But as expected, it was Boston’s ace in Crochet who opened June with a clean slate — and a much-needed win for his team.

“It’s amazing, man,” Trevor Story told NESN’s Jahmai Webster postgame, as transcribed by NESN.com’s Tim Crowley. “He sets the tone for us. As a ballclub, as a staff. He goes out there and lets it rip.

“Not much action [defensively], I told him that. That’s OK. He’s punching out 10 plus, it feels like every night and setting the tone for us. Every time he pitches, I love our chances to win.”