Red Sox
Crochet had struck out Judge in six straight at-bats dating back to his last start entering the pair’s ninth-inning matchup Friday.
Garrett Crochet looked as dominant as ever on the mound at Fenway Park against the Yankees Friday night.
Allowing just three hits and no runs versus a formidable New York club entering the ninth inning leading 1-0, he was looking to secure his first win at home as a Red Sox and notch Boston’s first complete game shutout since Tanner Houck in April last year.
Crochet had struck out Yankees star Aaron Judge in six straight at-bats dating back to his previous start last week. Judge hadn’t been able to make contact with the Red Sox’ ace in 2025.
The 25-year-old southpaw was even throwing as hard as he has all year, reaching 99 and 100 miles per hour in the sixth and ninth innings, each time against Judge, respectively.
All it took was one low fastball to baseball’s best hitter to tie the game and yank Crochet from what was otherwise his best start of the season.
Crochet’s 107th pitch of the evening was another 100 MPH heater, but he left it low in the zone, allowing Judge to launch it 443 feet and well onto Landsdowne St. and tie the game at one run apiece.
Does Crochet regret throwing his fastball that deep in the game, against Judge for the fourth time that night, on a 3-2 count?
Not at all.
“I live and die with my best pitch,” he said after the game. “Whether it be pitch selection or execution, tough way to end it. But overall, I felt really good tonight.
“If I gave up a homer on the cutter, if I gave it up on the sweeper, I would have hated myself a little bit more. If my night had to end there from a home run, I’m at least glad that it was on a fastball.”
However, Crochet did admit he wanted what was ultimately his final pitch of the contest to land higher.
“Yeah, 100 percent (not where he wanted the pitch to go),” he said. “Ideally, just trying to go up letter-high, but also trying to throw it as hard as I can seeing as he’s — I don’t know the number — but he’d probably seen 14 fastballs at that time. He saw 12 six days ago. Lack of execution there.”
Crochet ended the game after 8 ⅓ innings and struck out seven, allowing one walk. He exited the game leading MLB in strikeouts (117) and seventh-ranked in ERA (2.24) despite his singular mistake.
Although Crochet entered the ninth inning throwing 96 pitches and with closer Aroldis Chapman warming in the bullpen, it felt natural that he attempted a complete game shutout by coming back out for the final frame. Manager Alex Cora had no regrets about letting Crochet go for the victory in that spot.
“Our guy was throwing great. He was efficient [until] the end and we gave him a shot,” Cora said. “It didn’t work out. That’s why he is who he is, one of the best in the world. [Aaron Judge] got one pitch down the whole night and he hit it out of the ballpark. You gotta tip your hat.”
Despite Crochet receiving a no decision, the Red Sox took the tie game to extra innings and walked it off in the 10th inning by way of a Carlos Narvaez RBI single high off the Green Monster.
Crochet may have allowed the tying run to score, but his dominance allowed the offense to come alive despite scoring just one run of support during his outing.
“He works so hard at his craft. He’s a strong dude,” Cora said of his No. 1 starting pitcher. “I think mechanically, he was off early on, the first month-and-a-half. Now that he’s in this spot, you can see it. You can feel it. He made some great pitches to the lefties, too. The sinker was good. Got some quick outs. The velocity, whenever he needed it, it was there.”
“Impressive. Impressive. Our guy was great. Our guy was amazing,” he continued.
Crochet acknowledged how important it was to him that his coaches believed in him to take on the ninth inning, and take on Judge one more time. He said he could also feel Red Sox fans’ support as he took the mound.
“It was a special feeling, jogging back out there, standing [ovation],” Crochet said. “I could tell the fans wanted me out there, which I already wanted to be out there pretty bad, but it made it mean a little bit more. Was able to grab a little bit of extra stuff in that inning.
“Wish I could have finished it out. Probably gonna lose sleep over that, as silly as it sounds after what I would call a good outing. It was really cool.”
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