Well, all the talk about Crochet being frustrated getting yanked early in his start vs the Mets and wanting to throw the most innings in baseball? 6.2 in Milwaukee and now 7.0 on 112 pitches in Atlanta should satiate our pig quite well. This was to me Crochet’s best outing of the season. A Braves team that tends to be three true outcome when it actually performs, Crochet put the emphasis on one of those Sunday.
12 whiffs in an absolute masterclass of pitching. Did he have a massive jam to escape in the 4th? For sure. Did he also give up another homer? Yes, bringing his total up to 7 on the season. But does he also now lead the majors in strikeouts alongside…Mackenzie Gore? Does he have the 7th best ERA in the league, and the 20th best WHIP? You bet your sweet bippy he does.
Still, this win isn’t completely satisfying. Trevor Story’s bases-clearing double was fantastic but then to have 3 of your 7 hits total come in the first inning continues to make my thoughts on this Red Sox offense extremely nervous. Not capitalizing on a two-runners on situation in the 4th and then almost giving that back up to the Braves in the bottom of the frame had me gripping my seat a little. I guess you can only go 2-for-7 with RISP when you actually manage to get RISP.
A satisfying win for Crochet to finally get one, but still not satiating enough to see him get a lot of run support. This win is so much on his shoulders and while a win is great, him carrying that load every single outing is a trend that has to change.
Three Studs
Garrett Crochet (7.0 IP, 12 K, 2 BB, 1 ER, 5 K, 2 K)
Is it funny to start this out saying my only concern of his is the long ball? Twice at home against Atlanta, and another one to Ozuna this afternoon. Still, he continues to be the dominant ace the Red Sox have pined for.
Trevor Story (2-for-3, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K)
I have no idea why Trevor Story seemed to be some of the only offense of the weekend, but I’ll take it if it means a resurgent June after a mopey May. When I say he was literal inches from a grand slam, it was probably less than six.
Kristian Campbell (1-for-4)
Why is Campbell on here with only one hit? His snow-cone catch in the 4th inning during inarguably Crochet’s biggest jam with runners on second and third helped settle things down and allow Crochet to strike out Michael Harris II to get out of the frame unscathed. For all the talk about Campbell being at first Sunday, it sure helped he wasn’t.
Three Duds
Wilyer Abreu (0-for-4, 3 Ks)
A sombrero isn’t a great look with the no. 1 prospect in all of baseball knocking on the door. That or putting up a line of .212/.243./444/.687 in the month of May.
Connor Wong (0-for-4, 1 K)
Where did Connor’s bat go? His average is down to .175 on the season! For all the talk last season about Reese McGuire taking over as catcher 1 but Wong staying the course, this season Carlos Narvaez is breaking out but we’re getting little to no resistance from the last remaining piece of the Mookie Betts trade.
Jarren Duran (0-for-5, 1 K)
Duran continues to be a streaky hitter this season and Sunday’s performance didn’t help one bit.
Play of the Game
Can I just put all of Crochet’s outing here? I think I am.
Poll
Who was the Red Sox’s best player in their 3-1 win over the Braves?
96%
Garrett Crochet
(90 votes)
0%
Other (answer in the comments)
(0 votes)
93 votes total