Boston Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet delivers during the first inning against the Mets at Fenway Park on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)AP
Manager Alex Cora removed ace Garrett Crochet with one out in the sixth inning and the Red Sox trailing 1-0 to the Mets on Wednesday. The lefty had thrown only 85 pitches.
Why the early hook?
Cora said it was a predetermined shorter outing for Crochet who leads the majors in innings (68 ⅓ innings). The Red Sox mapped out this plan last week.
“It’s for the benefit of the player,” Cora said. “We’re here for the long run and we need that guy to make his starts. And for us to go to where we feel we can go, we need him.”
The Red Sox lost 5-1 to New York here at Fenway Park but they still took the series, 2-1. Crochet allowed one run, five hits and one walk while striking out five in 5 ⅓ innings.
Cora stuck to the Red Sox’ plan for Crochet even though the bullpen was taxed. No starter had gone more than 4 ⅔ innings in the previous four games. And the Red Sox had to use six relievers Tuesday after starting pitcher Walker Buehler got ejected in the third inning.
"You gotta put the player first," Cora said. “And he was very upset in the beginning and then he was OK with it. Obviously we were short (in the bullpen) but that doesn’t dictate what we’re gonna do with our ace."
Crochet’s 85 pitches marked the fewest pitches he has thrown in 11 starts this season. He has thrown more than 100 pitches five times. He has thrown 94 or more pitches in eight starts.
Cora did not tell Crochet the plan before the start. He told him at the mound when he took him out and replaced him with Liam Hendriks who gave up three runs on three hits while recording just two outs.
“I wasn’t made aware of it before the game, thankfully,” Crochet said. “That’s the last thing I want on my mind when I’m going out there ready to lay it all on the line. I have a lot of love and respect and trust in the front office and the coaching staff here. So if that’s their call, I’m gonna respect that.”
Despite respecting the decision, he didn’t want to be removed.
“I was frustrated,” Crochet said. “Just wanted a chance to pick up my teammates, the bullpen. They’ve obviously worked really hard this series. And I wanted to try and keep them out of it as much as possible. He (Cora) was just kinda letting me know, ‘Hey, we’re monitoring your workload, this sort of thing.’ And I said, ‘I get it.’ I apologized for yelling a curse word on the field when I saw him coming out there. I wasn’t trying to show him up. I was just really in the moment.
“I knew where my pitch count was and how my body was feeling,” Crochet added. “So I was excited to attack the next hitter. But it was in no way my intention to show him up in any form.”
Crochet said he was prepared to pitch 7-8 innings and “115 pitches if that’s what it took.”
“I like to think that I’m built up for that workload at this point,” Crochet said. “Obviously the focus is on being healthy in October, which I understand. But my focus right now is looking out for my teammates, trying to pick up slack when there needs to be. If I’m gonna be the starting pitcher that we’re looking towards right now, I wanna go out there and lead the league in innings. I want to throw as many innings as possible.”
The Red Sox strongly considered recalling a reliever from Triple-A Worcester before the game but they ultimately decided against it, according to a source.
“We were OK,” Cora said. “We had four guys we were gonna use if we had the lead."
The 25-year-old Crochet has a 1.98 ERA (68 ⅓ innings, 15 earned runs), 1.07 WHIP, .205 batting average against, 78 strikeouts and 22 walks in 11 starts. But the Red Sox are just 6-5 when he pitches.
“It is tough because in a lot of my starts I may give up one or two (runs) but I’m allowing the other team to get on the board first,” Crochet said. “That kind of puts us in a tough spot. Run support or not, I’m expecting to go out there and not give up any on my own behalf. My expectation — and I think that the team’s expectation — is when I take the mound, we could win the game 1-0.
“When I give up one as early as I did today, I think that I put the other team in a position of power,” he added. “Just gotta work on the first time through the lineup. I know the second and third time through the lineup I’ve been pretty good. But first time through the lineup for whatever reason I seem to be giving up some damage right now.”
