Boston Red Sox: Kutter Crawford showcases big league dominance vs Rays
The Boston Red Sox will take good pitching whenever and wherever they can get it. With injuries taking its toll on the starting rotation, the team turned to rookie pitcher Kutter Crawford to start a big series against the Tampa Bay Rays in a Fourth of July matinee, and he delivered fireworks off the mound.
As Crawford has teased the kind of stuff off the mound to be successful in the Majors, he did struggle the last time he was up. In 10 appearances, he posted a 1-2 record with a 6.41 ERA in 19 2/3 innings. However, he did record 24 strikeouts which helped him outshine the Rays on Independence Day.
In a combined 4-0 shoutout victory over the Rays, Crawford was simply awesome. The lefty has his cutter working which kept the Rays batting order off balance all game long. After Austin Davis set the tone as the opener, Crawford came in out of the bull pen with command of all five of his pitches. The Red Sox rookie finished the game with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings pitched, which were both career highs.
Kutter Crawford delivered when Boston Red Sox needed it most
Quite simply, it was a performance the Red Sox needed, and an outing Crawford needed to get his confidence back and show he can be dependable arm when called on.
"“I had pretty good command of all five of my pitches,” Crawford said, via MLB.com. “Last couple of outings, I figured something out mechanically that’s helped with that. Command of the baseball with all five pitches in the zone is one of my keys to success.”"
Boy, did he ever have the demand. Out of the 83 pitches he thew in those 5 1/3 innings, 60 went for strikes just like this nastiness off the mound:
That's a 7K day for Kutter Crawford! pic.twitter.com/estZlZfx8U
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 4, 2022
In all, the Boston Red Sox bats did just enough as Trevor Story instantly gave the team a 1-0 lead on a solo homerun. It was all Kutter Crawford, and the Red Sox bullpen needed to take care of the Rays which put some energy in Fenway Park on the Fourth.
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"“Kutter gave us a lot, helped us out in the ‘pen,” Story said following the game. “He looked great, was attacking, great pace, fun to play behind.”"
The Red Sox offense wasn’t explosive but did provide enough offense to make the performance of Davis, Crawford and John Schreiber matter in a very important series in the American League East.
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With Michael Wacha nursing a dead arm, Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Sale trying to work their way back to the starting rotation, these are the types of games, the types of performances Boston Red Sox fans may look back on towards the end of the season if the Sox make their way to the postseason.
But, back to Crawford who improved his record to 2-2, he not only helped give his team a boost of confidence against one of the AL East contenders, he impressed Alex Cora.
"“Kutter, he makes all his pitches,” Cora said. “It was impressive. Good breaking balls, good cutter, good changeup, and the fastball played. He was under control until the last hitter. It was really good to see.”"
The Fenway faithful showed Cutter Crawford just how much they appreciated his outing by delivering a standing ovation as he left the game. Very well deserved.