After losing their first two series of the 2026 season due to sleeping bats and unsteady pitching, the Boston Red Sox looked to Garrett Crochet to help them stave off a sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros.
But the club's 2025 stopper didn't come through. Crochet pitched five innings, gave up six hits and four earned runs — a fifth one scored on an error by Trevor Story. Boston's ace took accountability for the loss after the game, hopefully giving the Red Sox some motivation after their incredibly sluggish start to the year.
"It's embarrassing, and typically in the past, I've played that stopper role and today I just let the guys down, especially when we scratch one early in the first and then for me to give it right back and then ultimately give them the lead in the bottom of the first, it's unacceptable," Crochet said.
"We're about to go home and I expect us to have a better response when we get there."
Garrett Crochet gets honest about his outing against Astros and Red Sox's awful 1-5 start to 2026 season
"It's a game of adjustments and I felt like there at the end he was just one step ahead."
— NESN (@NESN) April 1, 2026
Garrett Crochet on his Red Sox start today
🎙️ presented by @WBMasonCo pic.twitter.com/V8mpqH2JGp
Don't we all? But under no circumstances should Crochet be allowed to take the sting of this defeat on his own. The Red Sox gave their No. 1 starter two runs of support while he was on the mound, then didn't score again until the eighth inning and the game was already out of an easy reach.
Crochet also had a more reliable bullpen behind him last season compared to the effort Red Sox relievers have given in the early goings of this year. Boston's 2025 bullpen posted a 3.41 ERA over 585.1 innings, while its 2026 staff has logged a 4.50 ERA so far, 20th in MLB.
Despite the lack of help from the team around him, Crochet didn't have his best stuff against the Astros, which is massively concerning for the Red Sox. Sonny Gray and Ranger Suárez looked frazzled in their first starts in the Red Sox organization and Johan Oviedo's lone relief outing didn't look much better. Oviedo and Brayan Bello's decreased velocity are also concerning, but at least Boston has more than enough pitching depth for now.
Hopefully, Crochet's words hit home for the Red Sox. They've looked dejected and lifeless in the first two series of the season, and their lack of offense and sloppy defense has let their pitching staff down — Connelly Early deserved better than the loss he got in his 2026 debut.
The Red Sox's 1-5 start to the season is their worst since 2019, and they're not a scary-enough team to come back from anything much worse. Boston needs to get it together quickly, and its upcoming home opening series against the 2-4 San Diego Padres in front of the Fenway Faithful is the time to do it.