While Garrett Crochet built stamina ahead of Opening Day, Boston prospect struck out seven in three dominant innings.
Spring training box scores don’t always tell the story, and Wednesday’s 4-0 loss to the New York Yankees at JetBlue Park was one of those afternoons where the most interesting developments came well after the final score started to feel secondary.
Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox’ likely Opening Day starter, used the outing mostly as a stamina-building exercise.
The lefthander worked in a somewhat unusual spring-training rhythm, getting pulled with two outs in the third inning before returning to face one more hitter at the start of the fourth as Boston looked to stretch his workload. The results were mixed but largely beside the point.
Crochet allowed three runs on three hits over 2.2 innings, striking out three without issuing a walk in a 53-pitch appearance.
The first pitch he threw didn’t last long. Yankees top prospect George Lombard Jr. jumped on a 97 mph fastball leading off the game and sent it out for a home run.
Crochet quickly settled in from there, retiring eight straight hitters before Lombard again interrupted the rhythm with a two-out hit later in the third.
Feb 26, 2026; Fort Myers, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet (35) pitches in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at JetBlue Park at Fenway South. (Jim Rassol/Imagn Images)For a pitcher still building toward regular-season form, the afternoon was less about the stat line and more about accumulating innings.
“Spring training for him is all about that,” manager Alex Cora told the media postgame. “He’s getting repetitions, getting the volume up. He’ll be ready for Cincinnati.”
If Crochet’s outing served as a tune-up, the game’s loudest moment belonged to one of the organization’s most exciting young arms.
Left-hander Payton Tolle entered in the sixth inning and immediately provided a reminder of why he’s viewed as one of the system’s most intriguing prospects.
Over three scoreless innings he struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced, including a stretch of five consecutive punchouts. His fastball regularly sat in the upper 90s and peaked at 100.4 mph - a number that carries some extra meaning in Red Sox camp, where pitchers who hit triple digits earn one of the team’s coveted “Fuego” T-shirts.
More impressive to the Red Sox than the velocity, though, was the mix.
Tolle leaned heavily on a mid-80s curveball, throwing it for strikes and finishing four of his seven strikeouts with the pitch.
For a spring afternoon that ended with a quiet Red Sox offense, it was the kind of electric relief appearance that still managed to steal the spotlight.
Mar 4, 2026; Fort Myers, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle (70) pitches against the New York Yankees in the sixth inning at JetBlue Park at Fenway South. (Jim Rassol/Imagn Images)JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.