BOSTON — The Red Sox made a major push to sign top free agent Juan Soto in December, then pivoted to a Plan B headlined by a blockbuster trade for starter Garrett Crochet when Soto chose to sign with the Mets. On Wednesday night, the two stars faced each other for the first time.

Crochet, who went 5 ⅓ innings and took a no-decision on a purposefully abbreviated start in a 5-1 Red Sox loss, won all three battles they had — quite decisively, in fact. Boston’s ace struck out New York’s $765 million man in all three of his at-bats, needing just 10 pitches to do so.

“For me, it’s just competing in the strike zone,” Crochet said. “Obviously, he’s a really good hitter. I don’t know his numbers left-on-left. To get paid that much money, I’d imagine they’re pretty good. I’m just trying to execute as best as possible.”

Soto is quite good against lefties, having hit .270 with 57 homers and an .861 OPS against them throughout his eight year career and posting a .333 average with a .952 OPS in 2025, entering Thursday. But Crochet made quick work of him on a cold night at Fenway.

In the first inning, with one out and Francisco Lindor on second after a lead-off double, Crochet punched out Soto without the superstar even taking a swing. He saw two cutters and a sinker before sitting down. Two innings later, it was a similar result for an inning-ending strikeout, though Soto saw a ball before taking a sweeper, cutter and four-seamer for the final out of the inning. To lead off the sixth — in Crochet’s final sequence of the night — the lefty threw a cutter Soto fouled off, then another for a called strike. He got Soto to chase a sweeper in the dirt with his 85th and final pitch.

“Especially out there after we were able to tie up the game, to have him leading off, it’s a pretty big at-bat,” Crochet said. “I definitely (bore) down on that one.”

In total, Soto saw 10 Crochet pitches. Nine were strikes and he swung at just two of them in an 0-for-3 night in which he later drove in a run with a deep sacrifice fly.

“Tonight was my first time facing him,” Crochet said. “I’m sure he just wanted to get a feel for the situation. I’m not really sure what his approach was. For me, I was just focused on executing pitches.”

Crochet has been deadly against left-handed hitters this season. He has held them to a .162 average in 11 starts. Soto, despite the track record and big contract, suffered a similar fate.

“Sometimes, I’ll have his number,” Crochet said. “Sometimes, he’ll have mine. That’s just the way it works.”