TORONTO — Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet (197 ⅓ innings) takes the mound Wednesday against the Blue Jays just 2 ⅔ innings short of reaching the 200-inning mark for the season.

If he reaches it, he’ll become the first Red Sox pitcher to accomplish the feat since Eduardo Rodriguez threw 203 ⅓ innings in 2019.

Only four pitchers reached the 200-inning mark in 2024 while just five did it in 2023. How big of an accomplishment would it be for Crochet to do it?

“You gotta ask him but from our end, there were no limitations coming into the season,” manager Alex Cora said. “It’s just a matter of taking care of him when we had to. We did it once early in the season against the Mets and then we used the All-Star break and the off days to take care of him. And the goal is for him to take care of us.”

On May 21 against the Mets, the Red Sox removed Crochet after 85 pitches and five innings. It was a predetermined shorter outing for Crochet. The Sox planned it a week in advance as part of managing his season workload. At the time, the lefty was leading the majors in innings. He enters Wednesday second in the majors in innings behind only Giants’ Logan Webb (201 ⅔ innings).

Boston also gave him eight days between starts heading into and coming out of the All-Star break.

“Today, having him on the mound, it’s a big one,” Cora said. “We understand where we’re at and what it means. And hopefully he can go out there and do his thing.”

The Red Sox’ magic number entering Wednesday to clinch a postseason berth is three. This will be Crochet’s final regular season start of the season unless the Red Sox have still not clinched by Sunday and need to bring him back on short rest for Game 162.

Crochet has blown past his career high in innings. He’s thrown 51 ⅔ innings more than his previous career high of 146 innings last year.”

“It’s great. That’s the reason the front office pulled the trigger (on the trade),” Cora said. “That’s what we were looking for. That’s why he got the big bucks and he’s proven everybody that he’s an ace.”

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