Monday’s series opener with the visiting Kansas City Royals was a slugfest.
Tuesday was largely a pitcher’s duel: Ryan Bergert versus Garrett Crochet.
Both were Red Sox wins.
In yet another sold-out show at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark, Boston triumphed 6-2 Tuesday night to extend the win streak to seven.
Pitching on a whopping nine days’ rest as the Red Sox attempt to give him extra breathers before the schedule tightens up in the coming weeks, Crochet made his MLB-leading tenth start of at least seven innings: seven innings, two earned runs on four hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts.
“I feel like normally extended rest makes me feel a little bit rusty, but I was able to squeeze two bullpens in in that time so I felt like it kind of just helped me stay up to date,” Crochet said. “First four (innings) felt really good. Made some good pitches that got hit there in the fourth, but no, overall I felt like I was in command today, doing what I wanted to do.”
Boston’s American League-leading 53rd quality start was a perfect game bid through Crochet’s first 3.1 innings, and racked up six strikeouts along the way.
“He’s incredible,” said Trevor Story. “He sets the tone for us every time, and we feel like every time he pitches we’re gonna win. You can feel his presence, he works quick. We’re not doing much work out there, it feels like.”
Bobby Witt Jr.’s two-out triple in the fourth finally put a hit in Kansas City’s column, and he came home to score the tying run moments later on a Maikel Garcia RBI double.
When the Royals began making more threatening contact, the Red Sox defense flashed some serious leather. David Hamilton and Wilyer Abreu opened the top of the fifth with a pair of stellar outs. Hamilton made a rolling grab to prevent Randal Grichuk’s ball from reaching the outfield, then threw to first in time, and Abreu raced over to the right-field corner and made a stunning catch near the Pesky Pole.
“That was unreal,” Crochet said of Abreu’s grab. “I thought I got Pesky’ed early on… He plays an incredible right field and this isn’t the easiest park to do it at.”
With one on and two out in the seventh and his pitch count at 101, Crochet knew Luke Maile was likely his last batter. As the sold-out crowd stood to watch, the Sox ace fanned the Royals catcher on four pitches, and roared alongside the Fenway Faithful as he strode off the mound.
“It felt really good,” said Crochet. “(Maile) battled pretty hard the at-bat prior and then I kind of gave in and had to throw a cutter in the zone and left it out over. So for that at-bat I felt like I was fairly in control. And I just didn’t want to give up the lead again. I’d already given up one that inning so shortened the lead pretty quickly. But for me it was, I just wanted that strikeout pretty bad.”
“It’s a fun atmosphere right now,” the southpaw added. “I can only imagine what it’s going to be in a couple of months… Winning, just in the clubhouse it’s very contagious. I think in our city right now, it’s very contagious.”
Bergert was long gone by then.
The Boston bats tallied nine hits in the contest, but they could barely get anything going against Bergert. The Royals righty yielded just two earned runs on two hits, two walks, and struck out two in 5.2 innings. But when Bergert walked Alex Bregman to snap a streak of nine consecutive batters retired, KC manager Matt Quatraro made his first pitching change.
Against the visiting bullpen, the Red Sox found the clutch pedal again. Between the sixth and seventh inning they scored five runs, all with two outs.
Abreu greeted Angel Zerpa with a double that put two in scoring position for Story. The veteran shortstop brought both men home with a go-ahead two-run single.
“You feel like something big is going to happen with every swing,” manager Alex Cora said Story. “He’s been outstanding for us.”
John Schreiber, traded to the Royals during spring training ‘24 – for David Sandlin, now one of Boston’s top pitching prospects – had a rough time against his former teammates and was unable to finish the seventh inning. Schreiber opened with a pair of quick outs, then walked No. 9 hitter David Hamilton.
Jarren Duran followed with a single, and Bregman’s second walk in as many innings loaded the bases. Abreu came through with a two-run single and Story followed with a single that brought his RBI total to three and knocked Schreiber out of the game.
No further scoring necessary.
Unlike Monday, there would be no late-inning rally by the Royals. Greg Weissert and Jordan Hicks pitched an inning apiece. Hicks even got pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski, grandson of the legendary Captain Carl, to pop out for the second out of the ninth.
Get some rest
Crochet leads MLB in strikeouts (183), wins (13) and innings pitched (148.1).
As of the fifth inning Tuesday, the southpaw also surpassed his previous single-season mark, another reason the Red Sox wanted to give him extra rest while they could. Crochet tossed 146 innings for the White Sox last season, but they heavily restricted his usage after the All-Star break. And heading for a modern-MLB record 121 losses, Chicago didn’t have to worry about October.
No place like home
The Red Sox are 14-1 in their last 15 home games, their best record at Fenway in a 15-game span since May-June 2008.
Unsurprisingly, “Field of Dreams” is correct: if you build it, people will come.
Since Friday, the Red Sox have played in front of a sold-out crowd five games in a row.
Patrolling right field, where the wall is at its shortest and there’s no netting separating the fans from the field, Abreu spends the most time in close proximity to the Fenway Faithful.
“Our fans, they’re the best,” the Gold Glove right-fielder said through translator Daveson Perez. “Especially now that we’re playing well and things are going good for us, just to see how much they’re yelling and how loud they’re getting, it’s been really fun.”
Story thinks the ballpark is getting louder by the day.
“Fenway’s so special to us and we play well at home, and I think that’s a big sign of good Red Sox teams,” he said. “When this place is rockin’, man, there’s nothing like it. And it’s a big-time advantage, as you’ve seen this year. Since I’ve been here, I haven’t felt it like this.”
“It’s been unreal,” Crochet said. “I feel like our team’s really starting to feed off of it… I think that as a visitor you can kind of feel that as well. Even when the opponent has a minor momentum swing, it feels like it’s nothing in comparison to what the home team feeels. I think that’s what our team’s feeding off of right now. As we get closer and closer down the stretch, I think it’ll only get more exciting and the moments will continue to mean more and more.”
Facts and figures
The Red Sox are 64-51, and a season-high 13 games above .500. They’re 24-8 since June 28, the best record in the majors over that span, and their 35-17 mark since June 4 is the best in the American League.
Trevor Story has 11 RBI over his last seven games. Tuesday was his 12th game with at least three runs batted in this season, tied for second-most in MLB.
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