Garrett Crochet burned through the Chicago White Sox's lineup in his return to Rate Field on April 13. The former reliever-turned-ace pitched 7.1 electric innings against his longtime team and racked up 11 strikeouts with just one walk, one hit and one run.
Crochet started out perfect, but the first batter of the sixth inning worked a walk against him to alleviate some pressure. The lefty retired seven more White Sox, including four more strikeouts, before former Boston Red Sox prospect Chase Meidroth broke through the no-hitter with a single in the eighth inning.
As soon as Meidroth was safely on first base, Alex Cora was up and moving to grab Crochet out of the game. Boston needed Crochet's outstanding performance to stave off a sweep by the White Sox, one year removed from the worst season in MLB history, but Cora was still anxious to get his ace off the hill.
“Honestly, I’ve never been so happy for the opponent to get a hit,” Cora said in his postgame presser.
Garrett Crochet loses his no-hit bid in the 8th inning and exits to a standing ovation from the crowd in Chicago. 👏 pic.twitter.com/c8mUcNJyit
— MLB (@MLB) April 13, 2025
The skipper's concerns about Crochet's early-season workload make some sense. He threw 107 and 102 pitches in his two previous outings and was up to 96 when Meidroth cracked Chicago's first hit. Despite some of the high early pitch counts, Cora was still willing to let Crochet go the distance, if it came to that.
“You’re in that dugout and you’ve got a chance to do something special. But at the same time, you have to balance our season. Without him, it’s going to be hard," Cora said. ". . . He kept saying he was feeling good but, still, you gotta put everything in perspective. That’s the hard part of this job.”
Alex Cora quick to pull Garrett Crochet after Red Sox seven-inning no-hit bid due to workload
The perspective of Boston's rotation isn't great at the moment. Richard Fitts was recently placed on the 15-day injured list with a pectoral strain and Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and Kutter Crawford are still recovering from winter injuries. Luckily, Bello and Giolito need just one or two more rehab starts before their 2025 debuts, but the Sox are in a tough spot until they get the okay.
Even though 2024 was Crochet's first full season as a starter, he didn't pitch a complete starter's workload in innings. He posted a 3.58 ERA with 209 strikeouts over just 146 frames last year, as the White Sox limited his innings to keep him fresh for an impending trade.
Chicago's limits worked, as Crochet's seven-inning no-hit bid was one of the best Red Sox starts in recent memory. He's supported the Red Sox enough to end multiple losing streaks — on April 13, Boston was at risk of being swept by the White Sox and his scoreless, eight-inning appearance against the Orioles on April 2 prevented a five-game skid.
Cora's reaction to Crochet's near-no-hitter felt harsh at the moment, but baseball season is a grind. If Crochet has to continue to be the Red Sox's stopper, especially if the bats go through more dry spells as they have, he needs to be as fresh as possible for as long as possible. Cora gave him the chance to no-hit his former team, but as soon as the bid ended, he did the right thing.