Red Sox 2, Yankees 1: It’s Never Easy

I wrote this sentence down in my notebook before the ninth inning: “Shohei Ohtani is probably the only player in baseball who can win a game by himself. Garrett Crochet got as close as you can without holding a bat.”

When Crochet wasn’t able to finish the job, the game felt like a lost cause. When Marcelo Mayer struck out with the winning run on third, the game felt like a lost cause. When Carlos Narvaez went down 0-2 with two outs, the game felt like a lost cause.

Of course, it wasn’t a lost cause. Carlos Narvaez hit a ball off the monster to win the game in ten innings. Three weeks ago, this game might end in a loss. Tonight, they got the runs they needed across the plate. Maybe, just maybe, the tide is beginning to turn.

Three Studs

Garrett Crochet

Garrett Crochet was as dominant a Red Sox pitcher as I can remember watching until his final pitch. I don’t blame Alex Cora one bit for giving him the ninth inning. He controlled the game from beginning to end, save for one fastball he left over the plate to Aaron Judge that was put onto the House of Blues.

What impressed me most about Crochet wasn’t his swing and miss stuff, rather how he responded when he fell behind in counts. On multiple occasions when Crochet was behind, he threw cutters inside to right handed hitters to generate weak contact and end at-bats. It may not seem like a big deal, but pitches like those are what allow a pitcher to get deep in games. Nobody can be ahead all of the time. The ability to escape negative count leverage is what separates good pitchers from great ones.

Carlos Narvaez

If Garrett Crochet carried the first 8 ¹⁄₃ innings, Carlos Narvaez carried the last one. In the top of the tenth, he threw out Anthony Volpe, who was trying to steal third for some inexplicable reason. In the bottom of the inning, he battled in an 0-2 count and turned in the game winning hit. It’s hard to have a much more impactful inning than that.

The Rivalry

Maybe it’s because the Red Sox are 3-1 against the Yankees, or maybe it’s because Garrett Crochet turned in a performance that felt like it needed a happy ending, but today’s game felt very meaningful. Losing this game after a nearly perfect Crochet start would have felt like a kick in the balls. Even though it’s a game in June, tonight’s game felt like it had high stakes, and that’s what it’s all about.