Boston Red Sox Ace Struggles Yet Again In Loss To Detroit Tigers

Coming off the worst start of his career, Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet entered Sunday afternoon's start against the Detroit Tigers with all eyes on him. For the middle three innings of his five innings of work, it looked like all was well, then the fifth inning happened, propelling Detroit to a 6-2 win at a rainy Fenway Park. 

Crochet came out of the gate firing in the first inning, recording the first two outs on just seven pitches. Then a 1-2 sweeper to Matt Vierling caught too much of the plate and was ripped to left for a double. Vierling came around to score on an RBI double by Detroit's hottest hitter, Dillon Dingler, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. 

Crochet settled down after those first inning doubles, cruising through the next three innings, allowing just two baserunners, racking up eight strikeouts in the process. 

After a quick first two outs in the top half of the fifth inning, the Detroit offense once again got to Crochet. Detroit designated hitter Jahmai Jones took a center-cut sinker and launched it 423 feet into one of the light towers above the Green Monster, giving Detroit a 2-1 lead. "Every mistake that I make is getting absolutely hammered," Crochet told reporters postgame. 

Things continued to unravel for Crochet, who walked second baseman Gleyber Torres on four pitches, which was followed by a Vierling single. Then Dingler struck once again, taking a four-seam fastball 397 feet to center for a three-run blast, extending the Detroit lead to four, 5-1. 

The fifth was the final inning for Crochet, whose final line read: five earned runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out eight, taking the loss.

"He just lost it," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of the fifth inning. Overall, though, Cora thought there were some positives to take from the start, saying, "The things that we talked about over the course of the week, he was able to execute. Of course, he's not gonna be happy with the outcome, but compared to the first few starts, I think stuff-wise, from the second all the way to Baez (the second-out Crochet recorded in the fifth inning), it was really good." 

Crochet, however, struck a more positive tone than his manager predicted. "Tough to assess, moving in the right direction for sure, but it's wins and losses, it's one or two, it sucks that I feel like I am moving in the right direction and I also happened to lose the game for us," he said. 

As for what the issue is for the 2025 Cy Young runner-up, Crochet pointed to his inability to get ahead in the count, saying, "Count leverage...tonight I did it more often than not, but every time I didn't, I paid the price for it". 

Crochet will head back into the lab, looking to improve on what is now a 7.88 ERA across 24 innings in his first four starts. As for the Red Sox, they now sit 8-13 and are tied with Toronto for last place in the American League East. 

Sonny Gray will look to play the role of stopper in the series finale as the Red Sox will look to salvage a series split with the Tigers in a Marathon Monday matinee. He'll get the start opposite Jack Flaherty for Detroit. First pitch from Fenway Park set for 11:10 a.m. ET. 

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