Red Sox quickly downplay health concerns after Garrett Crochet gets rocked by Twins

For the Red Sox, it’s been one step forward, two steps back.

Boston entered Monday night’s series opener in Minnesota riding a two-game win streak, sitting three games under .500 with a chance to build momentum behind ace Garrett Crochet.

Then came the bottom of the first. The wheels came off quickly as Minnesota pounced on Crochet, who struggled to locate his pitches while showing a noticeable dip in velocity.

Crochet retired Twins leadoff hitter Byron Buxton on a flyout to center, but things quickly unraveled from there. The left-hander needed 31 pitches to get through the first inning, surrendering four runs and putting Boston in an early 4-0 hole.

The second inning wasn’t any better. Crochet loaded the bases, and the Twins made him pay, spraying hits around Target Field and launching two balls into the seats. His nightmare outing mercifully came to an end soon after.

"As a manager, it's hard to watch. It was kind of like, OK, when are we going to take him out, you know?" Alex Cora said. "At the same time, you still have to cover innings and keep the bullpen quote-unquote fresh, knowing that there's two more games in the series."

The American League Cy Young runner-up allowed 11 runs while recording just five outs. He threw 55 pitches, only 30 for strikes, and saw his ERA balloon to 7.58.

“It’s tough. I guess, I don’t really have anything to say,” Crochet said.

Boston’s offense tried to mount a comeback, but it wasn’t enough; the Twins capitalized early and often, defeating the Red Sox 13-6. In the process, the Sox dropped to 6-10 on the season. 

What went wrong? 

“The stuff was down,” said Cora. “That's the reality of it. But they've been doing that to a lot of lefties lately. Like I said before the game, [Tarik] Skubal and Framber [Valdez], plus two lefties in Toronto, and now Garrett.”

The Twins have been scoring in bunches to open the season, ranking second in the American League with 92 runs.

Minnesota has consistently handled left-handed pitching early this season, something Cora alluded to postgame.

They've now faced 10 left-handed starters and have done damage against several top arms. Valdez allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits over five innings with just two strikeouts. The Twins also got to reigning AL Cy Young winner in Skubal in that same series, tagging him for four runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Prior to facing Boston, Minnesota knocked around Patrick Corbin for four runs on six hits in four innings and followed that up by scoring seven earned runs against Eric Lauer over 5 1/3 frames.

It’s a trend and one that showed up again Monday night.

Crochet’s underlying metrics reflected the struggles. His 13 four-seam fastballs averaged 94.9 mph, down from his 96.1 mph season average, and the spin rates across his arsenal dipped as well. His cutter, for example, averaged 2,510 rpm compared to his 2,629 season mark, according to Baseball Savant.

The contact against him was loud. Crochet allowed eight hard-hit balls (95+ mph exit velocity) on 14 balls in play, a 57.1% hard-hit rate, tied for the third-highest of any start in which he’s allowed at least 10 batted balls.

He also generated called strikes plus whiffs on just 12.7% of his pitches (7 of 55), the lowest mark of his career.

Crochet’s miserable outing Monday brought to mind one of his spring training starts, when he struggled in his final Grapefruit League appearance against the Braves. In that outing, he went 5 1/3 innings, allowing six earned runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts, including a home run to Austin Riley. Crochet finished the spring with a 7.36 ERA over 14 2/3 innings.

Spring results don’t carry much weight, but the outing was shaky; he missed spots and experimented with his pitch mix.

This spring, Crochet worked on a new changeup grip designed to mirror his splitter, and in his final outing against the Braves, Atlanta’s lineup feasted on it. To be fair, he threw the changeup just once Monday night, but the idea of tinkering after a dominant 2025 raises questions.

After his Opening Day start against the Reds, Crochet had already said he planned to stop experimenting with new pitches.

Crochet logged a career-high 205 1/3 innings last season and matched a career-high with 32 starts. Boston is counting on him to shoulder a similar workload again, and there will be nights where he’s off, but Monday’s outing was alarming, even by his standards.

“Everything went so quick. Next time, if this happens, we have to figure it out quicker and do something better,” said catcher Carlos Narváez. “He was executing and attacking, not afraid, and they were aggressive. It doesn’t feel good. We don’t want that. I know Beast doesn’t want that. He’s a Beast. I know the next outing is going to be different.”

The Red Sox ace told reporters he felt fine physically and isn’t concerned about the dip in velocity, which was down an average of 1.2 mph.

“I don’t think that’s anything to fret over,” he said.

Cora and pitching coach Andrew Bailey had no clear explanation for Crochet's dip in velocity and maintained their ace wasn't ailing physically during his outing.

“No. He’s healthy, so that’s the most important thing,” Cora said.

Bailey added that there were no red flags in Crochet’s preparation.

“All the work has been very consistent between starts. He’s been able to post, throw his bullpens, get all his good work in, so no curiosity or questions there,” Bailey said. “It was just that some mistakes got handled. We didn’t open up the away side of the plate, and against a good right-handed lineup, those middle-in mistakes got punished.”

Crochet wasn’t entirely sure what went wrong in the outing. He was tagged for nine hits, including two home runs in the second inning, while also issuing three walks and hitting a batter. He generated just three swings and misses in the abbreviated start.

“I mean, command as a whole has been spotty," Crochet said. "Gotten away with it a little this early in the year, but tonight they made me pay. It was weak contact, hard contact, walks, hit by pitch, a little bit of everything.”

It marked the shortest start of his career, excluding a rain-shortened outing on Aug. 27, 2024, when he threw just four pitches for the White Sox against the Rangers before a delay ended his night. It also marked his first appearance without recording a strikeout since pitching in relief for the White Sox in 2023.

Monday’s outing was eerily reminiscent of Tanner Houck’s blowup against the Tigers last season, when he was tagged for 11 runs in just 2 1/3 innings before eventually being shut down and undergoing Tommy John surgery.

There’s nothing to suggest Crochet is dealing with a similar issue, and the Red Sox were quick to downplay any concern about their ace’s health. But another rough outing, especially Sunday against Detroit, could lead to more pointed questions

“In the second inning, I felt like I was throwing the ball better and the results were worse,” Crochet said. “I don’t really have one thing to point to. I just feel like they had a good approach. It was all pitch types that I felt like they were absolutely smothering, and laying off the sweeper. So there was really no point for me to even throw it (the sweeper). I wasn’t getting to kill counts. So it was just three variations of hard. That’s my game. That’s how I pitch. And tip your cap, they hit them all."

Bailey said the Red Sox and Crochet need to learn from the outing and quickly turn the page.

“It’s a little eye-opening, obviously,” Bailey said. “I think there’s a little frustration and curiosity, but like for me, there’s a couple balls on the line, jam shot to the left, a couple walks mixed there and then obviously they were able to step on some pitches in zone and hit him out of the yard. And it happened really quickly. So just got to move past it.”

Crochet’s first four starts have been up and down to open the season. He tossed six scoreless innings on Opening Day against the Reds, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out eight. In his next start in Houston, he was inconsistent, lasting just a few innings while allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits, including a homer, while hitting two batters and striking out seven.

He bounced back in his most recent outing against the Brewers at Fenway Park, outdueling Jacob Misiorowski with a season-high 6 1/3 innings and seven strikeouts.

Still, the inconsistency remains, something that can be traced back to a slow spring. Cora has repeatedly noted that Crochet hasn’t been able to finish at-bats, and Bailey and the staff have yet to find a consistent fix.

Boston needs to right the ship, not simply throw some Flex Seal on the leaky problem, hoping its ace figures it out.

Crochet is expected to make his next start Sunday at Fenway Park against the Tigers. In the meantime, the Red Sox will take a deep dive into what went wrong, monitor their ace closely, and look to turn the page on the worst outing of his career.

“I’m just going to try and flush it as best as I can and move on to the next one. They had a good approach,” Crochet said. 

Boston will turn to Sonny Gray in the second game of the series, hoping the veteran can deliver his third straight strong outing. Gray was excellent last week against the Brewers at Fenway Park, tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and two walks, striking out two.

Through the early part of the season, Boston's rotation has been led by the one-two punch of Crochet and Gray. Aside from Gray’s rough debut in Cincinnati, he’s provided stability behind the ace, giving Boston a steady presence in the rotation.

For the Red Sox, the hope is that Monday night was simply a blip for Crochet, the kind of clunker every big league pitcher endures. If it’s anything more, it could put Boston in an even tougher position as it tries to make up ground in the standings.