Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet dominates Yankees, Boston takes Game 1 of AL Wild Card with 3-1 win

NEW YORK — The stage was set, and the rivalry was ready to renew between the Red Sox and Yankees under the bright lights of Yankee Stadium. Boston walked into Game 1 and landed the first blow of the series; behind an epic pitching performance from ace Garrett Crochet and clutch hitting late in the game, the Red Sox defeated the Yankees, 3-1.

Crochet was exceptional in his first postseason start, tossing 117 pitches over 7 2/3 innings, scattering just four hits, while striking out 11 batters. His only blip of the game came early on in the second inning, when he allowed a solo homer into the right field seats for Anthony Volpe.

“‘So what?" Crochet said about giving up a solo homer to Volpe. "Next pitch.’ The last thing that I want is, you know, the guys playing behind me to think that I’m going to give in to the moment. Like I said, it was just a lot of determination to keep the game where it was and let us have a chance to claw our way back into it.”

After that, Crochet was unhittable, retiring 17 straight batters and dominating the Yankees' lineup all night. He did experience a hiccup in the first inning, allowing the first two batters to reach base before inducing an inning-ending double play to Trevor Story.

Crochet’s 117 pitches were the most he’s thrown this season, beating the 112 pitches he threw against the Braves back in June.

"Just determined to keep the keep the game tied, or keep the lead where it was at [1-0]. Just wanted to do everything I could to give my team a fighting chance to get back into it," Crochet said about throwing 117 pitches in the win. "Nothing really changed mindset-wise, maybe a little bit more aggressive in the zone. But I think that that was just me finding my rhythm as the game went on.”

Crochet’s outing is precisely what the Red Sox envisioned when they traded four prospects for him back in December. The left-hander is living up to the ace title and paying early dividends on his six-year, $170 million extension the club signed him to back in April.

Crochet told Alex Cora that he would likely limit the number of calls to the bullpen during his outing. He backed up his words. 

“It started yesterday,” Cora said. “For some reason, our front office was in the bullpen checking something over there, and (Crochet) was in the dugout with me, and I told him, ‘We should call the bullpen,’ and he’s like, ‘Tomorrow you’re going to make one call to the bullpen.’ I said, ‘Maybe two.’ He’s like, ‘No, no, no, one. It’s going to be straight to Chappy.’ I was like, ‘OK, I’ll take that.’ And that’s how it worked out.”

Cora allowed Crochet to begin the eighth inning with his pitch count over 100 pitches. The lefty rewarded his skipper's decision before turning the ball over to the bullpen. 

"Yeah, with [Cora] leaving me in there, I just wanted to really honor that decision," said Crochet after the game. "I felt like he’s put a lot of faith in me this year, and I haven’t let him down yet. So I was going to be damn sure this wasn’t the first time.”

Overall, Cora thought Crochet was brilliant in his first postseason start of his career and for the Red Sox.

“Amazing — I was just telling [Craig Breslow], there’s going to be starts in the regular season where we have to take care of guys for this," Cora said. "Eighty-five pitches against the Mets, skipping the All-Star break, that’s all for this to happen. ... You have to make sure you stick with the process. For a guy that had never pitched 200 innings, had never made more than 30 starts, had never pitched 7⅔ in the playoffs, it’s a total team effort, and I made sure the training staff knew how I felt.”

Cora went with a platoon-heavy lineup, stacking it with right-handed hitters to face Yankees lefty Max Fried.

“We’re not gonna change what we do,” said Cora, hours before the game. “We’ve been platooning the whole time. When they bring the righties, the lefties are gonna be ready. They only have one lefty in the bullpen (Tim Hill), so we’ll manage accordingly.

Cora went with Nate Eaton in right field, Nick Sogard at second base, and left-masher Rob Refsynder in the leadoff spot as the designated hitter.

“We’ve been doing it the whole season. So nothing changes,” Cora added pregame to reporters.

Boston’s offense sputtered and stumbled to open the game. They recorded just eight hits and finally delivered a big hit late in the game. In the seventh inning, Cora pinch-hit Masataka Yoshida, and he pounced all over a first-pitch 95.9 mph first-pitch fastball from Luke Weaver, singling up the middle for a two-run single to put the Red Sox on top, 2-1.

Over the course of the night, the Sox had other chances; in the fourth, after Fried retired the first two batters, he walked Carlos Narváez following a six-pitch at-bat and then gave up a bloop double down the right field line to Eaton. With something brewing and Fried beginning to labor through the inning, Jarren Duran had a chance to deliver, taking three straight balls. With the cracks beginning to show in Fried’s armor, the left-hander battled back with three straight strikes to get Duran swinging on a high sweeper to end the threat.

Narváez walked three times, including working a nine-pitch at-bat in the sixth inning. Sogard went 2-for-4 with a key double in the seventh inning. The bottom of the lineup provided a spark at times throughout the game, particularly Sogard.

“He’s been awesome," Alex Bregman said of Sogard. "He does so many things really well on the baseball field, defensively, offensively, runs the bases, plays multiple positions, prepares his tail off, and it showed tonight. [Cora] said, the beginning of spring training, he said it’s going to take every single person in this room if we want, if we want to get to where we want to get to. And so he was so big tonight.”

In the ninth inning, Bregman, who was playing in his 100th career postseason game, added an extra run to the game with an RBI double to the left field wall, bringing the score to 3-1.

The bottom of the ninth provided unnecessary drama, but it was reminiscent of classic Red Sox-Yankees playoff games. All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman loaded the bases quickly on singles from Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger. It took the bases being loaded and all the pressure of the game on Chapman’s shoulders before he locked in. He struck out Giancarlo Stanton and then forced Jazz Chisholm Jr. to fly out to right field. New York did not send a runner home, respecting Wilyer Abreu’s arm in right field.

Chapman concluded the game by striking out Trent Grisham with a fastball clocked at 101.2 mph.

With just one victory in the next two games, the Red Sox can secure their place in the ALDS and advance to face the AL East champion, the Blue Jays, north of the border. Entering this season, all 12 teams that have won Game 1 of the AL Wild Card round have gone on to win the best-of-three series.