Red Sox turn to Crochet to be stopper amid 2-8 start
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Every baseball team goes through a slump at some point, and the most reliable way to get back to winning rests in the hands of the team’s biggest stars.
With the 2-8 Red Sox mired in a deep slump on both sides of the ball to begin 2026, here comes Garrett Crochet just in the nick of time. The Red Sox ace will make his first home start of the season tonight at 6:45 p.m. ET at Fenway Park, and he'll need his best stuff during a marquee matchup against the 8-2 Brewers and phenom Jacob Misiorowski.
2025’s AL Cy Young runner-up has started the year 1-1 in his first two starts with a 3.27 ERA. He was excellent on Opening Day against the Reds, spinning six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts while scattering just three hits.
The powerful lefty’s second outing against the Astros wasn’t as clean, allowing five runs (four earned) in five innings. Most of the damage came on a three-run home run from Carlos Correa in the fifth inning. Crochet’s stuff was still there, striking out seven batters.
Crochet will have his work cut out for him against Misiorowski, who has gotten off to a blistering start. The 6-foot-7 righty owns a 2.45 ERA and a 1-0 record, striking out 18(!) in 11 innings.
“It’s always important to have [Crochet],” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora on Monday. “But I think it takes more than Garrett. It’s a total team effort. We’ve got to put a full game together -- pitch, play good defense, run the bases well. We need one of those.”
The Brewers took Game 1 of the series, 8-6, in emotional fashion. Willson Contreras was hit by a Brewers pitcher for the 24th time in his career, and he tore the pant leg of Milwaukee shortstop David Hamilton on a later slide into second base. Then, a throwing error from left fielder Roman Anthony led to the game-winning run. Boston also walked eight Brewers batters on the night.
Can Crochet stop the bleeding?
“Like I said a few days ago, we have to pitch for us to get back to .500,” Cora said. “To go to where we want to go, we have to pitch. That's the bottom line.”