The Boston Red Sox looked like they were heating up following a slow start to the 2025 MLB season. Alex Cora's club entered this week's series against the Seattle Mariners with six wins in their last eight games, only for the Red Sox to drop two of the three meetings with the AL West club, including Thursday's 4-3 loss at Fenway Park.
It was a surprisingly uncharacteristic outing for Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet, who surrendered each of his team's earned runs Thursday afternoon. While some players wouldn't want to face the music after such a disastrous performance, Boston's left-handed ace is more than willing to take accountability for his club's latest loss.
Red Sox News: Garrett Crochet Gives Mature Response to Poor Performance vs. Mariners
Crochet surrendered four earned runs on five hits, as well as four walks, on the 110 pitches he threw. Following the loss, the 6-foot-6 southpaw told reporters that his poor performance likely stemmed from his trying to overcompensate on the mound.
"I was not happy with the success I was having, feeling like I had work to do, that was the wrong approach to have," Crochet told MassLive's Chris Cotillo. "Sometimes, you’ve got to take the good with the bad. Today was just getting back to who I am, just filling up the zone, throwing fastballs middle-middle, and if you hit it, you hit it."
"For me, pitching is hitting your spots and painting, I suppose. That’s just not me."
“For me, pitching is hitting your spots and painting, I suppose. That’s just not me."
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 24, 2025
After a poor start, an introspective Garrett Crochet realizes it's time to stop tinkering and just keep dominating with what works best:https://t.co/7vf5S4PXqq
Even though the 2024 MLB All-Star's latest outing wasn't anything to write home about, there's a chance it was a one-off outing. Crochet has been one of baseball's best pitchers since signing a $170 million contract extension at the end of March.
Including Thursday's outing, Crochet is now 2-2 with a 1.95 ERA after facing an MLB-high 148 batters through his first six starts. The former Tennessee Volunteer is allowing a career-low 0.2 home runs per nine innings while also having racked up 44 strikeouts so far. His consistency is a big reason why he's still FanDuel Sportsbook's +200 favorite to win the 2025 American League Cy Young Award.
In the meantime, Crochet will have a few days to regroup before his next appearance. He'll likely start during next week's series against the Toronto Blue Jays, assuming the Red Sox's rotation doesn't run into any obstacles before then.
It'll be interesting to see if Crochet will perform better against the AL East rivals than he did against them earlier this month. He allowed four earned runs on five hits in the Red Sox's 6-1 home loss to the Blue Jays on Apr. 8, leaving time to tell if history will repeat itself next week.
The important thing is that Boston's outlook is still bright despite Crochet's forgettable outing. The Red Sox are currently tied for the seventh-best 2025 World Series odds (+2000) on FanDuel Sportsbook as April winds down.
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