Garrett Crochet calls Fenway debut 'terrible,' Red Sox bats cold vs. Blue Jays on historically frigid night

Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald on Apr 8, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BOSTON — Left-hander Garrett Crochet’s long-awaited Fenway debut got off to a historic start, just not the way he or the Red Sox hoped. It was 35 degrees when the game began, the third-coldest first-pitch temperature Baseball Reference has ever logged at the ballpark (just one degree warmer than the record), and far colder by the time the Toronto Blue Jays won, 6-1, two hours and 46 minutes later.

“It felt that way,” manager Alex Cora said of the temperature.

Crochet’s night lasted 5 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs, but only one earned, on five hits, four walks and five strikeouts. He threw 107 pitches, 65 for strikes, and induced 11 swings-and-misses.

“He did a good job,” Cora assessed. “Tough conditions, George (Springer) hits a homer, then we don’t make plays, and that was it, but he did more than enough.”

Crochet had a different take on his outing: “Terrible.”

“There really hasn’t been a start this year where I feel like I’ve had my best stuff,” the Sox southpaw continued. “Hopefully that’s because I’m building and they’re all going to come later in the year, but just not getting to the glove-side very well with the four-seam or the cutter, a lot of overcorrecting with the two and just yanking and not really driving it there.”

As the temps continued to fall, Crochet heated up somewhat; he got the Blue Jays 1-2-3 in the second and fourth, and finished three of the first four innings with a strikeout-looking.

But in the top of the sixth, it was the Blue Jays who boiled over. The entire lineup came to the plate in a four-run inning against Crochet and right-hander Zack Kelly. Springer’s one-out solo home run broke the scoreless stalemate, but the bulk of the damage came with two outs, the inning prolonged by a pair of infield errors. Davis Schneider reached on a throwing error by Alex Bregman, and Crochet walked Myles Straw to put a second runner on. Former Red Sox catcher Tyler Heineman’s RBI single turned chaotic when Kristian Campbell sprung out of a solid catch and made an errant throw wide of first base.

“That’s our No. 1 guy, and he had an extra day (of rest), so we felt like that was a part of the lineup that he could dominate,” Cora explained of leaving Crochet in as his pitch count neared 100. “We just didn’t make two plays.”

“A routine error for Alex, and then a kid trying to make too much of one play,” Cora added.

After Crochet walked Alan Roden, Cora called on Zack Kelly, who gave up a two-run single to Bo Bichette before getting out of the inning.

The Blue Jays scored another two runs in the top of the eighth against Kelly and Josh Winckowski, who pitched the remainder of the game. Both runs were charged to Kelly.

Easton Lucas, meanwhile, reached new career highs of 5 1/3 innings and eight strikeouts in his scoreless start. The Blue Jays starter held the home team to three hits and one walk, inducing 12 swings-and-misses amid his 82 pitches (57 strikes). The Boston bats were as cold as the temps, going 1-2-3 in three of the first five innings, with only two hits and a walk. The wind blowing in hard from left field didn’t help matters, foiling several hard-hit balls.

Save for an RBI single in the seventh, the Red Sox couldn’t get anything going. After scoring 44 runs over four games entering this series, they’ve scored a combined three runs over the first two games of this quartet with the Jays. Boston had eight hits to Toronto’s nine, but only one for extra bases (Romy Gonzalez’s double), and went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, leaving seven men on base.

Boston began the bottom of the ninth with a pair of well-placed singles, but the Blue Jays were able to turn a double play on Gonzalez’s first pitch comebacker to the mound, and Blake Sabol struck out looking to quash the rally.

Asked how difficult it is for a pitcher to throw the ball in such conditions, Cora said “very.”

“I went out to the mound twice, and I felt it. It was windy, too,” the Sox skipper said. “But I mean, I always say that we always complain about the weather in April, we don’t in October. So it is what it is. We’re here, and we needed to play the game, and we got another one tomorrow.”

The Red Sox have now lost back-to-back games after going on a five-game winning streak. Five runs is their largest margin of defeat this season.

With a loss by the Yankees as well, the Blue Jays move into sole possession of first place in the American League East.