Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet must have been somewhat surprised during Saturday’s battle against the New York Yankees.
Boston’s offense gave Crochet five runs of support before the sixth inning — a rare occurrence this season! Hilariously, the Red Sox still waited until Crochet exited the game to do the majority of their mashing, pouring in seven runs in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium, embarrassing their rivals in the process.
Nonetheless, the explosive ninth inning only further solidified a win for Crochet, No. 14 on the season for the Cy Young candidate.
Speaking of the Cy Young race, Crochet doesn’t really want to speak (or think) about it.
A quote from the lefty on Saturday explains why.
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“I feel like every time I’ve thought about it, I’ve had a real bad start to follow,” Crochet said, per The Boston Globe’s Tim Healey. “At this point in the year, it’s continuing to press for the finish line and just prepare for the postseason.”
Plenty of fans and analysts can and will do the Cy Young thinking for Crochet, who is very much in the mix for the award with a 14-5 record, 2.38 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 207 strikeouts in 166 1/3 innings pitched this season for the Red Sox.
Other starting pitchers in the top 10 of ESPN’s “Cy Young Predictor” include Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal (11-3, 2.32 ERA), Houston Astros’ Hunter Brown (10-5, 2.36 ERA), Texas Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi (11-3, 1.73 ERA) and Yankees’ Max Fried (13-5, 3.14 ERA).
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Looking at the Red Sox’s remaining schedule, Crochet is expected to make five or six more starts in the regular season.
The Cy is totally in play for Crochet, even if he isn’t interested in acknowledging it at the moment.