The Fenway Faithful were on their feet before Garrett Crochet even walked up the dugout steps, and the sold-out crowd of 36,453 roared as he walked back out to the mound to begin the top of the ninth.
The Red Sox ace’s pitch count sat at 93, the score 1-0. Aroldis Chapman was barely stirring in the bullpen.
It was up to Crochet.
Yandy Díaz grounded the third pitch back to the Sox starter, who tossed to Abraham Toro at first base. Ha-Seong Kim grounded out to catcher Carlos Narváez. Statcast listed the distance as one foot. By then, it was already the longest outing of Crochet’s career.
But there was still one out left to get.
Crochet fired a first-pitch sweeper at the heart of the zone, and Jake Mangum lined it to right field. Wilyer Abreu barely had to move to make the catch.
“I didn’t even know what to do when the third out was recorded,” Crochet said. “I was like, ‘Where do I stand?’ ”
He’d just pitched the first complete-game shutout of his career, powering the Red Sox to a 1-0 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.
The series belongs to Boston. The win streak is up to nine, the club’s longest since April 2019.
Crochet’s three-hit, no walk, nine-strikeout gem required exactly 100 pitches. He retired 26 of 30 batters, and yielded no extra-base hits. It was the first 1-0 complete-game shutout by a Red Sox pitcher since Michael Wacha on June 6, 2022, and the first at Fenway since Pedro Martinez on July 23, 2000.
“Throwing strikes, using all his weapons today. … He used everything and did an outstanding job,” said Cora, who described Crochet’s first-half as “fantastic.”
Not only because Crochet heads into the All-Star break with a 2.23 ERA, at least five innings pitched in each of his 20 starts, including nine in which he tossed at least seven innings (tied with Spencer Schwellenbach for the most in the majors), and leading MLB with 160 strikeouts and 129 innings pitched. Crochet, his manager said, has been so much more than can be quantified by his impressive stat line.
“The day we traded for him in Dallas, I was like, OK cool, this is gonna be good for us,” the Sox skipper said. “But talking to him early on, and when I saw him in spring training, the way he conduct himself in the clubhouse and the way he help his teammates and all that, I was like, man, this is a true ace. This is a leader.”
The pivotal play
The only bump in the road was in the sixth, the only inning in which the Rays had multiple base runners. When shortstop Taylor Walls and first baseman Diaz roped a pair of back-to-back one-out singles to put runners on the corners, it set the stage for first baseman Abraham Toro to make a tough fielder’s choice decision. Warned by his manager moments earlier that he needed to “be aware of the bunt,” Toro was well-positioned when Kim did just that. As Crochet ran to cover first, Toro raced across the infield grass and grabbed the infield dribbler.
“Running to the ball, I just saw the runner a little bit on my peripheral view, and I saw that I had time,” said Toro.
Instead of throwing to Crochet, Toro contorted his body, and made an awkward but successful throw to Carlos Narváez for the tag at home, preventing the Rays from tying the game.
“What a play by Toro,” Cora said.
“Shocked,” Crochet said with a chuckle. “I was very shocked, and was more shocked at the out call.”
The Rays challenged. And lost.
“That was incredible,” said Crochet. “When they decided to challenge it, Carlos was coming out to the mound, and he was pretty confident, and I saw the video and I wasn’t super confident until they showed the next angle. But yeah, that was a very awkward, uncomfortable throw, and he put it right on the money, so it was huge.”
“I was (nervous),” Toro said. “I was like, oh my God. I thought it was clear out, and then when they challenged, (I was) like, please.”
No support needed
Crochet received virtually nothing in the way of run support. The only run on Fenway’s ancient scoreboard came on Narváez’s fourth-inning RBI single, which scored Roman Anthony after his double. Anthony also joined Rafael Devers as the youngest Red Sox player to record a hitting streak as long as eight games, since Tony Conigliaro in 1964-65.
But Crochet has thrived in these situations; he entered the day with a 1.71 ERA in 14 games in which he received no more than five runs of support, compared to a 4.35 ERA in the five games when he received at least six runs of support.
Saturday, he took the concept of putting the team on his back to a level only seen twice before in franchise history. Crochet, Tex Hughson and Cy Young are the only Red Sox pitchers to ever record a complete-game shutout in a 1-0 win with no more than three hits, no walks, and at least nine strikeouts.
“When Garrett’s throwing like he did today, we only need one run,” Toro said. “He always keeps us, the whole year, in every ball game. And for me, he’s the American League Cy Young.”
Rays right-hander Shane Baz wasn’t nearly as effective, but the Red Sox bailed him out several times, getting caught stealing (Marcelo Mayer, third inning), hitting into two inning-ending double plays within the first four innings, and wasting leadoff doubles by Trevor Story – his 1,000th career hit – and Jarren Duran in the fifth and sixth.
Baz only threw 53% of his 98 pitches in the zone. He struck out three, walked two and hit Masataka Yoshida to open the sixth, but he ultimately yielded just one earned run on five hits in his 6.1 innings.
The Boston bats fouled off countless pitches, including at least half a dozen into the open windows of the press box, but the big hit eluded them.
Never fear. From start to finish, from Opening Day to the break, from inning No. 1 to No. 9, Crochet was here.
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