Red Sox Make Franchise History With Back-To-Back Shutouts Vs. Athletics
The Boston Red Sox’s pitching staff is off to an incredible start this week.
On Monday, Garrett Crochet delivered one of his best outings of the season, racking up 10 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings as the Red Sox shut out the Athletics 7-0 in their series opener at Sutter Health Park.
On Tuesday, rookie Connelly Early was perhaps even better, notching 11 strikeouts over five scoreless innings in his historic Major League debut. Boston shut out the Athletics again, cruising to a 6-0 win.
According to MLB stats researcher Justin Havens, it’s the first time in Red Sox history that the team has had back-to-back shutouts (in nine-inning games) with at least 23 strikeouts and no more than two walks allowed. They are the seventh team in American League history to do so.
The two dominant outings are even more impressive given that they came in the AL’s most hitter-friendly park against one of the better lineups in baseball.
Sutter Health Park is the second-most run-friendly environment in baseball this year behind only Coors Field, according to Statcast’s park factors. Furthermore, the Athletics have one of the most dangerous offenses in baseball, ranking 12th in runs per game (4.58), seventh in OPS (.752) and fifth in home runs (199).
Crochet is one of the best pitchers in baseball, so his outing wasn’t too surprising, even if he was coming off his worst start of the season. Early’s performance was extra impressive, however, given that it came in his first MLB start.
Boston will go for the sweep on Wednesday behind another rookie, Payton Tolle. Tolle is searching for his first career win after going 0-1 with a 7.56 ERA over his first two starts.
He’ll face rookie Mason Barnett, who’s also making his third career start. Barnett is 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA, so the Red Sox should be able to give Tolle some decent run support.