117 pitches, 11 K's: Crochet aces biggest test yet as Sox take Game 1

NEW YORK -- Garrett Crochet changed everything for the Red Sox that day in February when he showed up at Spring Training, two months after chief baseball officer Craig Breslow struck with a clutch trade in which he sent four prospects to the White Sox for one of the most promising pitchers in the game.

Nobody could have promised a performance like the one Crochet delivered on Tuesday night in his postseason debut at Yankee Stadium.

But the Red Sox wouldn’t have survived Game 1 without every one of those career-high 117 pitches, including the last one -- a 100.2 mph heater that froze Austin Wells looking.

In leading his team to a 3-1 victory in Game 1 of this best-of-three AL Wild Card Series, Crochet announced his presence emphatically, allowing four hits and no walks over 7 2/3 innings while punching out 11.

“He was aggressive. You could see it in his eyes before the game that he wanted it badly,” said Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman. “It was a performance that big-time pitchers make, and that's who he is, and I am super proud of him.”

Teams who win Game 1 are 18-2 in the Wild Card round. The Red Sox will try to keep that trend going by winning this series.

How confident was Crochet on the eve of his dominant effort?

“For some reason, our front office was in the bullpen checking something out there [during Monday’s workout day],” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Garrett was in the dugout with me. I told him, ‘We should call the bullpen.’ He said, ‘Tomorrow you are going to make one call to the bullpen. I said, ‘Maybe two.’ He's like, ‘No, no, no, one. It's going to be straight to [closer Aroldis Chapman].”

And that’s how it played out, as Crochet emptied the tank and exited with two outs in the eighth. How did he have such confidence leading into the start?

“[I was] just being arrogant, to be honest,” Crochet said with a smile. “I didn't actually expect that to be the case. But when he sent me back out there [for the eighth], I was determined to leave it that way.”

Crochet relished the opportunity to pitch deep into the game.

“With him leaving me in there, I wanted to honor that decision,” Crochet said. “I felt like he's put a lot of faith in me this year, and I haven't let him down yet. So I was going to be damn sure this wasn't the first time.”

Considering the stakes and the opposing pitcher (Max Fried), Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium seemed like a night that Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet couldn’t afford to so much as blink.

Well, he did just once, when Anthony Volpe took him deep for a solo shot in the second to snap a scoreless tie. But never after that. Boston’s power lefty retired 17 in a row following the homer by Volpe.

"Obviously both guys were great as advertised. Crochet was really tough," said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. "Volpe gets him there. Had a couple on in the first inning. He navigates that. He was pretty pitch efficient. We had a couple of at-bats, couple in a row where we got to three balls and kind of pressuring him. He made big pitches in those situations."

“Just wanted to do everything I could to give my team a fighting chance to get back into it. Nothing really changed mindset-wise,” Crochet said. “Maybe a little more aggressive in the zone. But I think that was just me finding my rhythm as the game went on.”

Crochet just needed a little offense to make his performance stand up.

In that game-turning top of the seventh, Ceddanne Rafaela, one of Boston’s least patient hitters, worked an 11-pitch, one-out walk against Luke Weaver. Rafaela was the first batter that Weaver faced after Fried left to a standing ovation following 6 1/3 stellar frames. Nick Sogard came up next and hit what looked like a routine single to right-center. Instead, Sogard pushed the envelope, and sliding in with a double.

• Sogard's heads-up baserunning against Judge proves crucial

That set up Masataka Yoshida’s first career postseason at-bat, and he belted a two-run single up the middle to give the Red Sox their first lead.

Boston added a huge insurance run in the ninth on an RBI double by Bregman, playing his 100th career postseason game.

Things felt less than settled when Chapman, who got the final out in the eighth, got into a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam to start the ninth.

The 37-year-old lefty buckled down, striking out Giancarlo Stanton, getting Jazz Chisholm Jr. to fly out to right and then fanning Trent Grisham to close out another rivalry classic.

“In that moment, you don’t hear anything, you don’t see anything,” said Chapman. “You’re just 100 percent focused on your catcher.”

As a result, the Yankees became the first postseason club to have the bases loaded with none out in the bottom of the ninth but fail to score and lose the game, according to OptaSTATS. On top of that, prior to Tuesday night, Chapman had faced only one batter with the bases loaded all season before facing three in the ninth inning.

The close-out by Chapman was huge. But the starter set the tone.

“[Crochet] is a guy that wants it bad, to be honest with you,” said Cora. “He was in a situation last year where he was learning how to become a starter. He got traded to become the ace. He got paid like an ace, and since Day One he has acted like that.”