Red Sox ride Garrett Crochet’s brilliance to a commanding 7-1 win over Blue Jays

With the postseason picture tightening, Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet took the mound at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday night and gave Boston exactly what they needed — a dominant outing, en route to a 7-1 win over the Blue Jays.

Crochet was electric from the first pitch, attacking the Blue Jays lineup with his high-octane fastball while commanding the zone, tossing an eight-inning scoreless gem. He limited Toronto to just three hits while not allowing a walk and striking out six, earning his 18th win of the season.

One of Crochet’s strikeout victims, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., was thrown out for arguing balls and strikes after he struck out looking for the first out in the seventh inning. Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins was also tossed from the game for arguing with the umpire.

The southpaw pitched his final game of the 2025 regular season, tossing 205 1/3 innings and collecting 255 strikeouts. Crochet ended his first season with the Red Sox, recording a 2.59 ERA. He is the first Red Sox pitcher to toss 200 innings or more since Eduardo Rodriguez accomplished this feat, tossing 203 1/3 frames in 2019.

“We needed this game big time, and he showed up like a beast, like an ace,” Carlos Narvaez said. “I feel proud to be behind the plate for him every night.”

Crochet’s outing on Wednesday marked the fourth time he has tossed eight innings or more and the 14th time he has thrown at least seven innings.

“That’s the reason he’s here, we needed an ace, we got an ace, we extended him, and every five days it feels like it’s win day,” said Alex Cora after the win. “He did an amazing job today, the guys came out swinging, shut down inning right after that, and he set the tempo.”

His next outing should come in the postseason, and he is lined up to start Game 1 of the best-of-three wild card round against a team yet to be determined. It’s possible the Sox could end back north of the border playing the Blue Jays again next week.

The victory over Toronto brings Boston within two games of clinching a playoff spot for the first time since 2021. Any combination of two Red Sox wins and Astros losses would guarantee an American League wild-card spot.

“It feels great, but we still have to finish it,” Cora said. “We’ve put ourselves in a great position so far, we still have games to play, we’ve just got to take it day by day.”

Boston’s lineup offered up plenty of run support for Crochet, facing future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, who opened the game striking out Jarren Duran. Following the strikeout, the Sox collected five straight hits off the veteran righty. Masataka Yoshida doubled home a run in the first inning, scoring Trevor Story.

Yoshida has four straight two-hit ball games and has six two-hit games in his last eight games.

Romy Gonzalez singled a line drive to left field, driving home another two runs, putting Boston on top 3-0. The Sox added another run in the fifth on a solo blast from Yoshoda, his third homer of the season. Yoshida is 9-for-23 with three doubles, a home run, and four RBI over the first five games of the Red Sox’ current road trip.

The veteran Scherzer allowed four runs over five hits, allowing 10 hits, no walks, and five strikeouts. The Sox put an exclamation on the game after Narvaez belted a three-run homer in the eighth inning, his 15th of the year off Jose Berrios. The home run gave Boston a 7-0 lead.

Before the game, Cora gave high praise to his rookie catcher, who has played over 930 innings behind the dish this season. 

“Obviously defensively, this kid is special, but I think he stayed the course,” Cora said. “Through the ups and downs of the second part of the season, he knows what he needs to do behind the plate. Keeps walking, throwing out guys and leading the way. I think both of them (Narváez and Connor Wong), the second part of the season have been great for us. They have complemented each other, been able to take care of each other and we’re in a good spot.”

Boston gave the ball to Payton Tolle in the ninth, who allowed a solo blast to Isiah Kiner-Falefa. In five games in the majors, Tolle has allowed five homers in 10 innings.

The Red Sox will go for the three-game sweep on Thursday night and will send Brayan Bello (11-8, 3.34 ERA) to the mound, and he was initially going to be opposed by Shane Bieber (3-2, 3.57 ERA), but the Jays moved him back to Friday night. Toronto has not announced a starter for the series finale.