Why Red Sox’s Garrett Crochet Must Play Stopper Role Again

Garrett Crochet helped the Red Sox snap a four-game losing streak in the second series of the season.

Crochet’s best start so far with Boston came on April 2 when he tossed eight shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles for a 3-0 win. That victory started a five-game winning streak for the Red Sox when the offense came to life. Boston has since fallen back to shortcomings on the field and needs a dominant effort from the ace Sunday.

The Red Sox continue to strike out too much and commit far too many errors. They’ve lost five of their last six games. They just lost a series to the Chicago White Sox, who had won just two games all season and lost over 120 games last season but are now 12-8 against Boston since the start of 2022.

Crochet could have extra motivation facing his old team for the first time in Chicago, though he’s totally brushed aside that storyline throughout the weekend. Crochet met the moment to stop a skid against a talented team in Baltimore. Now, the Red Sox need his A-stuff to pour cold water on the energized White Sox lineup that scored 14 runs in the first two games of the series.

To get Boston back in the win column, Crochet does need help from the defense behind him and his offense to finally hit with runners in scoring position. Even a few runs should give Crochet the support to go to work. The Red Sox can still finish the road trip with a winning record, but that starts with a timely outing Sunday afternoon.