NEW YORK — Craig Breslow made several significant moves to retool the Boston Red Sox roster this offseason, chief among them the high-profile additions of left-hander Garrett Crochet, third baseman Alex Bregman, and closer Aroldis Chapman.
Though all three players made enormous impacts all season, battling in pressure-packed environments tends to be their specialty. For the Red Sox, it doesn’t get much louder — or more hostile — than kicking off the postseason at Yankee Stadium. This was the type of scene where Breslow expected his offseason additions to shine.
Led by Crochet’s 117-pitch, 11-strikeout effort in front of a raucous Bronx crowd, the Red Sox fed off their ace’s confidence and delivered a 3-1 win over the Yankees in Game 1 of the Wild Card series. Chapman put the exclamation point on Tuesday night’s win by recording a four-out save against his former team.
The Red Sox are one win away from bouncing the Yankees out of the playoffs and advancing to the American League Division Series. Teams are 12-0 when winning the first game since this wild-card format was created.
“He was aggressive,” Bregman said of Crochet. “You could see it in his eyes before the game that he wanted it bad. And every time he takes the mound, we love going out there and playing defense behind him. Just a performance that big-time pitchers make, and that’s who he is, and I am super proud of him.
No matter that, this was Crochet’s first career postseason start.
“I didn’t even realize how many pitches he was at until I looked up at the board and I saw it,” outfielder Jarren Duran said of Crochet’s tireless effort. “I was like, ‘Oh my god. 115?!’ And he was still throwing 98-100 (mph). I was like, ‘OK, kid. You do you.’ We call him Beast for a reason. It was awesome to see him go out there and do his thing.”
The 26-year-old deftly took care of business, racking up double-digit strikeouts against the best offense in baseball. Crochet allowed just one run, on an Anthony Volpe homer, and permitted no walks in his dominant outing. The southpaw was one out away from finishing the eighth inning when Alex Cora finally took him out of the game. His final pitch of the night was a 100.2 mph sinker to whiff Yankees catcher Austin Wells.
“With (Cora) leaving me in there, I wanted to honor that decision,” Crochet said. “I felt like he’s put a lot of faith in me this year, and I haven’t let him down yet. So I was going to be damn sure this wasn’t the first time.”
“He is a guy that wants it bad, to be honest with you,” Cora said of Crochet. “He was in a situation last year that he was learning how to become a starter. He got traded to become the ace. He got paid like an ace, and since day one he has acted like that.”
(Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
As Crochet took the mound for his first-ever playoff start, behind him at the hot corner, Bregman suited up for his 100th career postseason game. Breslow got the deal done for the veteran in the eleventh hour of the offseason, just before spring training in February, completing his goal of acquiring a big right-handed bat.
That Bregman was even playing on Tuesday was somewhat of a surprise, given that he had missed the final two games of the regular season due to a virus. He was kept away from the team and traveled to New York separately before finally being activated for Boston’s first postseason game.
How did Bregman respond? The two-time World Series championship winner ripped a single to right field in the first inning off left-hander Max Fried. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and delivered a clutch RBI double in the ninth inning that gave the Red Sox an insurance run.
“I thought it was great,” Bregman said of Boston’s playoff win. “I thought nobody tried to do too much. Everybody stayed within themselves, tried to just compete and be in the moment and play their game. And I think everyone trusted their own abilities. That’s what we talked about before the game, and I thought the guys did a good job of that.”
It’s worth noting that the groundwork behind Tuesday’s enormous win over the Yankees started more than nine months ago.
Breslow traded for Crochet during Major League Baseball’s winter meetings last offseason. One day before that, he signed Chapman to become Boston’s closer. While the Red Sox front office was lauded for landing the premier starting pitcher on the market, the decision to pick up Chapman, who was coming off one of his worst career seasons, was a head-scratcher at the time.
Those doubts only lasted through the winter.
(Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Chapman, in his age-37 season, put together his best career year. And after recording a 1.17 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, and 32 saves in 61.1 innings for the Red Sox in the regular season, Cora asked him for a four-out save against their division rivals on Tuesday. After a clean eighth inning, and after seeing what Chapman had done for them in the season, the Red Sox could smell victory when he jogged out to the mound in the ninth.
The Red Sox weren’t even nervous when Chapman loaded the bases with nobody out to begin the inning. The veteran closer had only a tiny, two-run lead to protect, and the Yankees offense was threatening to erase it after he allowed three consecutive singles to Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger to begin the frame. But he dialed in to 16 years of experience in the game to retire the next three batters. Chapman struck out Giancarlo Stanton, got Jazz Chisholm to fly out to right, then whiffed Trent Grisham to seal the win.
“I was just trying to calm myself down,” Chapman said. “Trying to execute pitch by pitch. That was the mentality.”
If not for Boston’s three major offseason additions, it’s tough to imagine the Red Sox defeating the Yankees in Game 1 of the Wild Card series.
“It’s huge,” Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story said. “You look at Breggy and Chappy, those guys have been to the postseason, it seems like, every year. Those are the type of players you gotta have if you want to win the whole thing — guys with experience. And then Crochet, that’s what he’s been for us all year. Front-line ace. When it’s time to be the big boy, he’s the big boy. It’s just fun to watch because I know he’s waited a long time for that, and he’s worked his ass off to be here.”
Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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