Garrett Crochet’s first postseason start in a Red Sox uniform was the kind of outing Boston had been waiting to see since the club brought him in ahead of the 2025 season.
There were obvious reasons for the skepticism at the time. Crochet came with an injury history and only a limited track record with the White Sox, so the leap from that situation to ace expectations in Boston was no small ask. Add in the fact that he was moving from a team that posted the worst record in MLB history to one carrying postseason expectations, and the questions around him made sense.
Then Game 1 of the wild-card series arrived at Yankee Stadium, and Crochet answered them the hard way.
In a hostile setting and with an energized crowd trying to rattle him, Crochet pitched like the front-line starter Boston believed it was getting. Anthony Volpe got him early with a solo home run, but that was about as good as it got for New York. Crochet settled in and kept the Yankees off the board the rest of the way, working until he was finally lifted after 117 pitches.
By the time Boston grabbed a 2-1 lead in the seventh, Crochet had already shut the door on any quick Yankees response with a 1-2-3 inning. In the eighth, he struck out two of the three batters he faced before handing things off to Aroldis Chapman. At one point, Crochet retired 17 straight hitters.
His final line told the story cleanly:
7.2 IP
4 H
1 ER
0 BB
11 K
117 pitches
Chapman survived a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth and finished off the 2-1 road win for Boston.
The Red Sox didn’t win the series, losing the next two games at Yankee Stadium, but that wasn’t on Crochet. What he did in Game 1 still mattered. Boston needed an ace, and in that moment, he played like one, setting the tone in a game that felt huge from the first pitch.
The strikeouts and the zero walks were impressive enough. The pitch count made it stand out even more.
In today’s game, 117 pitches is rare in any setting, regular season or postseason. Crochet not only reached that number, he still looked as sharp at the end as he did at the start, striking out his final two batters.
Boston would have preferred a series win, but Crochet’s performance in the opener gave the Red Sox exactly what they had hoped for when they acquired him: a pitcher who could walk into Yankee Stadium and look every bit the ace.
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