Garrett Crochet reached 99 miles-per-hour, then 100 on his way to where no pitcher ventured this season. Alex Cora let him roll, the product of an off day conversation before the Red Sox-Yankees series began, stamina that allowed him to maintain power through 117 pitches and a body of work that surpassed nearly anyone else in the game. It helped that he soared through the seventh inning in six pitches, a part of the order Cora observed Crochet struggling against previously.
“He’s the best pitcher in the game,” Aaron Judge told reporters after.
Whether the Red Sox cement their 1-0 advantage with a first round upset over the Yankees, Crochet and the team that leaned on his dominance all season had their moment on Tuesday in one of the great performances in team history. Crochet retired 17 straight Yankees after giving up an early solo shot to Anthony Volpe, striking out two of the three batters he saw as he pushed the highest workload of anyone in the playoffs since 2019. Cora, who managed a tough matchup against Yankees ace Max Fried to perfection, stayed with Nick Sogard, a surprising starter in the first place, who stayed in against New York reliever Luke Weaver.
The situation appeared like a prime opportunity to shift away from Sogard, who recorded an early hit and tagged up to take second on a sacrifice fly in an early aggressive move. Staying in, he knocked a base hit toward Judge, nursing an arm injury, and raced into second with a double knowing he could get there. The play set up a decisive pinch hit single that scored two by Masataka Yoshida. Cora, whose managing set up a comeback win that clinched a postseason spot on Friday, led the win that this team deserved. They mixed-and-matched lineups, starting Sogard and Nate Eaton over Nathaniel Lowe and Wilyer Abreu until late. And it worked.
Aroldis Chapman entered in the eighth inning to keep Ben Rice on the bench, the Yankees unable to get two of their better hitters between Rice and Jazz Chisholm. Of course, the game didn’t lack the Sox’ typical lapses. Abreu nearly crashed into Ceddanne Rafaela on the inning-ending fly ball. They left three runners in scoring position early, including two on second and third in the fourth after an Eaton double. Chapman loaded the bases in the ninth, continuing slippage he showed in September and throwing with reduced velocity. He even moved the tying runner over to second base by throwing over to first too many times in the eighth.
Yet the Sox finally executed Cora’s long-held vision of driving up opposing starter pitch counts and getting them out of games early. Fried had retired four of the previous five batters before reaching 102 pitches with no runners on in the seventh. Rafaela, Friday’s hero, walked in an 11-pitch at bat that will go down as the night’s unsung moment. The other, Trevor Story’s steal in the ninth, getting in by a fingertip, set up an Alex Bregman RBI hit that provided crucial insurance in the ninth. New York didn’t send Paul Goldschmidt on a sacrifice fly chance with two outs in the ninth down two, and the throw went wide to the left.
The thought still stood though, in that moment, that Crochet’s night could disappear with a single pitch. The Yankees could flip a near perfect night for the Sox on its head.
And in the following at-bat against power hitter Trent Grisham, 20 pitches into his outing, Chapman reached 101 miles-per-hour three times. A little luck and aggressiveness aiding the two best arms the Sox threw all year. And the only ones they’d need to secure their best win of the 2020s.
