Red Sox takeaways: Garrett Crochet avoids injury, but offense, bullpen sputter again

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BOSTON — An early lead, a late bullpen implosion and another loss. Over the past week, the Boston Red Sox have played the same kind of game nearly on repeat.

On Sunday, Garrett Crochet didn’t have his best stuff and had to shake off a scary moment when he was struck in the face by a Carlos Correa comebacker, but the left-hander still gave the Red Sox a chance to win. Instead, the offense failed to add onto an early lead and relievers Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten faltered for the third time this past week, as the Minnesota Twins beat the Red Sox, 5-4, to win the series. The Red Sox fell to 18-18.

“Tough week for the bullpen, right?” manager Alex Cora said. “We had good stuff. They’re good pitchers. Just have to make adjustments. Like I said before the game, we have to make sure we execute. There were a lot of two-out hits, two-strike hits, and we’ve just got to be better.”

In Toronto, the Red Sox dropped back-to-back games with Whitlock and Slaten taking the losses in games the team had a late lead. The Red Sox are now tied with the Phillies with eight blown saves, the most in the majors.

In the latest blown save, Whitlock took over in the sixth with a 3-1 lead after Crochet had allowed one run on four hits and two walks over five innings while striking out six. After a scoreless sixth, Whitlock ran into trouble in the seventh, issuing a lead-off walk to Harrison Bader and a one-out single to Christian Vázquez before allowing a two-out, two-run single from Ryan Jeffers to tie the game. Jeffers had been hitting .400 with two out and runners in scoring position entering the at-bat.

Cora turned to Slaten in the eighth and he allowed a leadoff single to Correa, recorded two outs and then allowed a Bader double to score the go-ahead run. Trevor Larnach added another RBI single, making it 5-3.

“It’s three games in a row now where again, like I said in Toronto, I felt like I’ve had really good stuff,” Slaten said. “I’m getting ahead of guys, getting the swing-and-miss, but it’s not happening in the two-strike counts and that’s what matters most, and that’s the most frustrating part about it is that I feel like I’m shooting myself in the foot when I get to those positions and not executing.”

There was one bullpen bright spot this week, however. For the second time in three days, Liam Hendriks pitched a clean inning, needing eight pitches, five strikes, to retire the the side in order in the ninth. Unfortunately, the damage was already done, as the Red Sox could pull no closer than 5-4 against the Twins’ bullpen.

Red Sox offense silent in the later innings

A struggling bullpen hasn’t been Boston’s only issue in this recent slide that has seen the team lose four of their last five and seven out of their last 11 games. An inconsistent offense has also played a major role. The Red Sox have shown an ability to break out offensively, but have been far too streaky and have bunched their runs early in games.

Through 34 games, the Red Sox have scored 89 runs in the first four innings while just 75 in innings four through eight. After gaining early leads, they’ve failed to keep adding throughout the game, adding pressure on the bullpen, as was the case on Sunday.

Adding to leads continues to be an issue for the Red Sox. (Winslow Townson / Getty Images)

In the second, down 1-0, the Wilyer Abreu reached on a single that he dropped into left field in front of Larnach. Romy Gonzalez singled and then David Hamilton hit a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Carlos Narváez bounced a single over the third baseman into left scoring two runs for the 2-1 lead. The rally was the product of excellent situational hitting. The Red Sox cashed in another scoring opportunity in the third when Gonzalez added a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

But then the offense stalled once again, aside from an Abreu solo homer in the eighth.

In the seventh just after the Twins had tied the game, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers went down in order on seven total pitches and the Twins took the lead off Slaten in the top of the eighth.

Cora didn’t have much of an explanation for the inconsistency of his team’s offense.

“(Minnesota’s) bullpen is really good and after the fifth inning, they could bring in their guys,” Cora said. “We hit some balls hard. Ceddanne hit some groundballs hard. But we didn’t put pressure on them.

“Just keep working, that’s the most important thing,” he added. “Wily put a good swing at the end. Hammy hit the ball hard. Just got to keep working, and things are going to change.”

More than a month into the season, however, the lack of consistent offense has become a worrisome trend.

With offense stalling, Cora shakes up the order

Cora tried to switch up the lineup on Sunday, moving Kristian Campbell into the cleanup spot.

Campbell, who won American League Rookie of the Month for April, missed the last three games with right rib discomfort. Campbell entered the day hitting .301 with a .902 OPS in 29 games along with 11 multi-hit games, but went 0-for-4 on the day.

With Trevor Story struggling at the plate and Triston Casas out for the year, Cora hinted Campbell might remain in the four-hole.

“Just trying something different,” he said before the game. “Putting all those bats together I think is going to help. I’m not saying this is the route we will go, but probably we will.”

Casas started the year as the cleanup hitter, hitting in that spot for 12 games before Cora turned to Story (nine games) and Abreu (11 games). Rob Refsnyder has hit cleanup three times so far.

Story got a day off on Sunday and has been in a rough stretch at the plate, going 6-for-46 with three walks and 16 strikeouts over his last 11 games.

“Missing fastballs,” Cora said of Story. “We saw it (Saturday), throughout the game, getting fastballs that he can hit, fouling them off (and) then they expand.”

Meanwhile, Abreu had been struggling entering Sunday after a white-hot first week of the season. Starting on April 2, he’d hit just .219 with a .716 OPS over the past month, but did he put up a 3-for-4 day on Sunday with two singles and a homer.

The Red Sox have had plenty of strong individual performances at the plate, but far too few days where they’ve collectively clicked and added on throughout the game. It cost them once again on Sunday.

Crochet OK after being struck by batted ball

Even before Correa’s comebacker to the mound, Crochet’s day got off to a bad start. The lefty allowed a solo homer on the first pitch of the game to Byron Buxton to put the team in an early hole.

The Red Sox gave him the 3-1 lead, but his command was off and his velocity was down, with his four-seamer averaging just 95.7 mph.

Garrett Crochet taking one off the nose and staying in the game.

Dawg. pic.twitter.com/DeOBgEWwF1

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 4, 2025

Then in the fourth, he narrowly avoided a major injury as a 93.7 mph comebacker from Correa glanced off his nose. Cora and trainers came out to the mound to make sure Crochet’s nose wasn’t broken before he took a few warmup pitches and stayed in the game.

“It barely grazed me, honestly, just more shaken up with the initial impact than anything,” he said. “I immediately touched my nose to see if it felt normal. It was numb at first, just from the initial impact, but it was fine. “

Crochet pitched one more inning, leaving with 89 pitches, 54 strikes and 14 swings-and-misses. Typically he uses his four-seamer about 45 percent of the time each start, but only threw it at an 18 percent clip on Sunday, recognizing the Twins were sitting on it. Instead he turned to his cutter and sinker.

“Velo being down, kind of seeing what (the Twins) were trying to do to me in the first inning, getting swings off on the four-seamer early,” he said. “Some teams the sinker profiles well to. So just taking what they’re giving me.”

In spring training, Crochet regularly topped out at 100 mph, but has yet to hit that in-season. While it’s not yet a concern given the early-season weather, it’s been noticeable and something Crochet agreed he’s trying to figure out.

Asked what’s felt different since spring training, Crochet opened up a bit.

“Just the way that I’m working down the slope, I feel like there are times where I’m kind of just letting my body weight take me down the slope instead of driving down the mountain right now,” he said. “It’s like I’m able to recognize these things during the start, but I’m not going to try and correct anything during a start on the field. Once I’m on the mound, I’m doing what I can with what I have that day.”

The 25-year-old still boasts a 2.02 ERA through eight starts, but clearly feels he hasn’t pitched his best thus far.

Injury updates: Buehler’s ailment minor, Fitts nearing a return, Casas has surgery

Starter Walker Buehler landed on the injured list on Friday with right shoulder bursitis but he was relieved the injury wasn’t more severe. Buehler said he had an anti-inflammatory shot on Friday and expects to begin throwing again Monday or Tuesday.

“I’m a guy that has pitched through a lot of things and so the fact that it was just bursitis and I had to go on the IL is kind of embarrassing for me in some ways,” he said. “But I think there’s certain things you have to check off during the week to be able to throw in a major-league game. And I wasn’t able to do those things. So, all in all, I think it’s the right thing to do. Hopefully, I miss two or maybe a third start, but it should be minimum.”

Buehler started to feel some shoulder discomfort two weeks ago in Tampa and tried to pitch through it, but given he’d had a tear in his shoulder a few years back he wanted to ensure it was nothing more serious.

“The results of my MRI and the kind of quality of my shoulder is still really good,” he said. “I was just concerned that it was something more than it was. And luckily it wasn’t, so pretty cut and dry, get the injection, clean it up and get back.”

Meanwhile, starter Richard Fitts, who’s been out with a pectoral strain since April 13, is inching closer to a return. Fitts is scheduled for a bullpen on Monday and Cora has been pleased with how he aggressive he’s been as he’s tried to return to the mound quickly after what the team initially feared would be a much worse injury.

“The progress has been outstanding,” Cora said. “He feels really good so let’s see how it goes (Monday).”

“He’s done a good job of attacking the rehab too,” Cora added. “He’s very diligent. Saw it during the offseason. He was here and did a good job with the trainers and doing the same thing with his rehab.”

Two days after rupturing his left patella tendon running to first base, Casas had surgery to repair the tendon on Sunday at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is expected to miss the rest of the season.

(Photo of Crochet after being struck by Correa’s comebacker: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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