Garrett Crochet entered Sunday looking to rebound from the worst start of his career in Minnesota, where the Twins tagged him for 11 runs (10 earned) and chased him after just five outs.
Things got off to a better, though still shaky, start against Detroit. Crochet recorded two quick outs in the first inning and jumped ahead of Matt Vierling 0-2 before the outfielder ripped a sweeper for a double. Seven pitches later, Dillon Dingler drove him in with a cutter left over the plate, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
What began as an efficient inning quickly unraveled into a 25-pitch frame, leaving Crochet working from behind early.
“In that inning, he just lost it, it seems like,” said Alex Cora. “Before that, besides the first inning, the stuff was really good. The four-seam played, the sinker. The cutter, the velo was up there today. Some positive strides but that last inning didn’t work out.”
After the first inning, Crochet began to lock in, retiring 12 of the next 14 batters while running his strikeout total up to eight, a stretch he described as “4.2 damn good innings.”
But with two outs in the fifth, things unraveled quickly. After striking out the first two hitters on just eight pitches, Crochet fell behind Jahmai Jones 2-0 and left a sinker over the plate. Jones crushed it to left-center for a go-ahead solo homer.
Things began to get worse for the Sox’ ace, after Gleyber Torres reached base following a four-pitch walk. Vierling singled to keep the Tigers offense going, before Crochet fell behind Dingler 3-1, and left a four-seamer over the heart of the plate. Dingler didn’t miss, launching a 397-foot, three-run homer to center to extend Detroit’s lead to 5-1.
DING THE BELL 🛎️🛎️🛎️ pic.twitter.com/N7NlcskcPN
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) April 19, 2026
After allowing another single, Crochet finally induced a groundout to end the inning, walking off the mound with a blank stare after the damage was done.
“Right now, every mistake that I make is getting absolutely hammered,” Crochet said. “But it’s because they’re mistakes when I’m behind in the count.
“I went into it today with a willingness to throw the four-seamer at the top zone at a high volume. Then I dig myself in the hole versus Dingler and kind of just fall into a trap of having to throw a four-seam for a strike. … Right now, I feel like I know what needs to happen. Just a matter of doing it.”
Through five starts this season, including Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the Tigers, Crochet’s ERA ballooned to 7.88. The Red Sox also fell to 0-13 when their starter fails to complete six innings.
It marked just the seventh time in his Red Sox tenure that Crochet has allowed multiple home runs in a start.
“I feel like I can confidently say that’s what it, whereas last start, I was reeling and searching,” Crochet said. “I mentioned the predictability, I think, trying to fish a little bit for a reason that could have been. When it’s 1.2 (innings) and 11 (runs), it seems like they knew what was coming. But tonight, it was just count leverage when I had success and when I didn’t have it, I got banged around pretty good.
“To be honest, I don’t even know if that (predictability) was ever really the issue. I think that was more of what I thought was the issue. Right now, it’s that every mistake I make is getting absolutely hammered. It’s because there are mistakes when I’m behind in the count.”
Crochet’s velocity ticked back up in this outing. His 35 four-seam fastballs averaged 95.8 mph, up from 94.9 mph on just 13 fastballs in his previous start, according to Baseball Savant.
“Moving in the right direction for sure, but it’s wins and losses,” Crochet said. “It’s one (or the other). It sucks that I feel like I am moving in the right direction and I also happened to lose the game for us.
“It’s just tough that it’s kinda the same sticking point for me. Right now, I feel like I know what needs to happen. It’s just a matter of doing it.”
Overall, the 26-year-old left-hander went five innings, allowing five runs on seven hits while walking two, striking out seven, and surrendering two home runs.
“The last one was so bad you can’t even have any emotion about it,” Crochet said. “This one, I felt like I was dominating until I wasn’t.”
Crochet took accountability after the loss, addressing what’s gone wrong and how he plans to correct it. It’s worth noting he’s navigated rough stretches before, with the White Sox in 2024, he carried a 5.97 ERA at the end of April before bouncing back with a 0.90 ERA over his next five starts in May. He went on to finish that season with over 200 strikeouts.
The left-hander has shown he can make adjustments, but early signs point to shaken confidence. Right now, as Crochet searches for answers, the Red Sox appear stuck in neutral.
“It’s a pretty surprising thing,” Crochet said. “I’m surprised I’ve given up 16 runs in my past two starts and haven’t made it into the sixth in either of them,” he said. “I’m surprised I’m letting the team down at the level I am right now. Just continuing to make the bullpen guys get worn out. I think the little things right now are just compounding.
“You feel like you can’t catch a break but we know there’s going to be a stretch where we’re getting all the breaks,” he added. “Right now, we need to make our own good fortune in order to get the ball moving in the right direction. We’ve got to start pushing it.”
The offense looks overmatched. Tarik Skubal carved up the Red Sox on Saturday, and Framber Valdez followed with six strong innings Sunday, striking out a season-high seven while allowing just a first-inning solo homer to Willson Contreras. Caleb Durbin’s RBI double in the ninth accounted for Boston’s only other run. Through three games of the four-game set, the Red Sox have managed just four total runs.
Willson with a solo shot to the Monster! pic.twitter.com/r87yOiRDtj
— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 19, 2026
“He used his changeup and breaking ball to expand and we expanded with him,” Cora said of Valdez. “We didn’t do much.”
The Tigers left-hander was highly efficient, throwing 70 of his 98 pitches for strikes, becoming just the ninth pitcher in MLB to reach that mark in a game this season.
The Red Sox have scored three runs or fewer in 11 of their first 21 games and rank last in the league in home runs, further compounding their inability to generate offense.
“Obviously it’s been tough,” veteran shortstop Trevor Story said after the loss. “We’ve had our flashes of it and shown what we can do but on a consistent nightly basis it hasn’t been showing up.
“We need to give our starters and the bullpen more room to work with because no one wants to go out there and feel like they have to be perfect every night, that’s not baseball,” Story added later. “We have to find a way to be more consistent.”
Boston will look to salvage the series in the Marathon Monday finale at 11:10 a.m. before welcoming the Yankees, who enter with the best record in the American League at 13-9. If the Red Sox can steady themselves over the next few games, they can get back into the mix, but it starts on the mound with Sonny Gray (2-1, 4.43 ERA), who will face Detroit right-hander Jack Flaherty (0-1, 4.05 ERA).
“Trying not to look too deep into it on the team level,” Crochet said of the team’s 8-13 start. “I’m not going to use the excuse of ‘it’s early,’ but instead I’ll say that you can’t be out of the playoffs in April.”
Crochet may be right in that assessment, but the Red Sox are digging themselves into an early hole in the standings and don’t have an offense that strikes fear into opposing teams.