BALTIMORE -- The Red Sox can’t fix all their problems in one day, but they did have themselves one therapeutic Saturday afternoon at Camden Yards.
Garrett Crochet was in a slump? Not anymore.
The lefty ace shook off his previous two starts (a combined 15 earned runs allowed) by turning in a vintage performance (six scoreless innings with three hits, two walks and seven strikeouts) that led the Red Sox to a 17-1 victory over the Orioles to snap a four-game losing streak.
The offense was in a slump for the ages? Not on this day.
It wasn’t one of the big guns who set the tone. Instead, it was utility player Andruw Monasterio who ignited a three-run rally in the second inning with a one-out double. With two outs, the Sox got RBI hits from Caleb Durbin, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ceddanne Rafalea. Orioles starter Trevor Rogers didn’t even make it through the frame.
Any thoughts the Orioles had to chip away at the lead were washed away when Connor Wong poked a bases-clearing, three-run double to right with two outs in the seventh to put Boston up, 7-0. Ten more runs came across in the ninth, with a trio of homers (including a grand slam from Monasterio) sealing the win.
The ninth marked the Red Sox's highest-scoring inning since they put up 13 runs in the eighth inning on May 23 last year at home, also against Baltimore, and their highest-scoring ninth inning since a 10-run ninth vs. the Twins on May 7, 2017.
While the revival from the offense was nice, Crochet was the most relevant storyline, given his importance to a team that is off to a 10-17 start.
With some runs to work with, the ace went to work, featuring an arsenal heavy on four-seamers (59 percent) but also mixing in some nasty sweepers and effective cutters and sinkers. He threw 90 pitches, 57 of them for strikes.
This was Crochet’s first scoreless outing since Opening Day in Cincinnati.