Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet (35) pitches during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Fenway Park. Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
The Boston Red Sox have had a very simple recipe for success over the past month – send Garrett Crochet out on the mound.
The All-Star southpaw took the bump again Saturday, doing his best to keep his winning streak alive.
Crochet gave up solo home runs to two of the first three Los Angeles Dodgers batters he faced, only to settle in and shut down from then on out. He wound up going 6.0 innings deep, giving up eight hits, two walks and two runs while notching 10 strikeouts.
Boston, meanwhile, scored four runs against the most dominant lefty of the last 15 years, Clayton Kershaw. The future hall of famer was no match for Crochet, as the Red Sox went on to win 4-2.
That marked five wins in a row for Boston when Crochet starts. He is now 12-4 with a 2.23 ERA, 1.090 WHIP, 175 strikeouts and a 4.7 WAR since getting traded by the Chicago White Sox last December.
According to the team's former director of media relations, J.P. Long, Crochet is the only left-handed pitcher ever to post a sub-2.25 ERA and at least 175 strikeouts in their first 22 appearances with a team. Adding righties into the mix, Roger Clemens and Justin Verlander are the only other pitchers to achieve that feat, doing so with the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros, respectively.
Crochet is 8-0 with a 2.44 ERA and 86 strikeouts over his last 10 starts. Looking purely at the franchise history books, Crochet joins Clemens and Pedro Martinez as the only Red Sox to post as dominant of a 10-start stretch, per Long.
The Red Sox and Dodgers will close out their series at Fenway Park with a rubber match on Sunday, with Walker Buehler facing off against Dustin May. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET.
