Garrett Crochet reflects on his return to Chicago
Winning streaks. Walk-off wins. These were nice surprises for the White Sox fans. That feeling of hope and optimism had eluded them for so long, but, thanks to the Red Sox, it has reappeared if only for a brief moment in time.
Good times for the White Sox. For their Boston counterparts? Bad.
What the Red Sox did have going for them in the moments after their 3-2 loss to the White Sox Saturday was the security blanket knowing that their ace, Garrett Crochet, was ready to change the narrative in the series finale. But that still didn't change the sting that came with losing their second straight game to a club that lost a record 121 games last season and entered into this three-game set with the worst record in baseball.
It's just 16 games into the season, and there are certainly teams in a lot worst early-season predicaments than the 7-9 Red Sox. But there is that feeling this group was so desperately trying to avoid.
In the words of too many parents to count, Red Sox fans aren't necessarily mad, but they are disappointed. And for a team that had pushed its chips to the middle of the table in hopes of avoiding moments like this, that should still sting.
In this one, there was the out-of-nowhere obstacle, appearing in the form of Richard Fitts' sixth-inning injury that forced him from what had been a five-inning scoreless outing. The promising starter grabbed his right shoulder, left the game and would later reveal he was headed back to Boston for an MRI.
"Whenever you have to come out of the game and talk about MRIs, you always get concerned," Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters. "He really wanted to keep going and my job is to take care of my players. Hopefully, we stopped at the right time and he didn’t miss too much time."
"Something different that I haven’t felt before," Fitts explained to the media. "I felt like I was in a groove, then wasn’t able to throw my best pitches. I had to call them out there."
Despite the disappointment that came with seeing Fitts' momentum get derailed, the solution to that potential problem would see to be around the corner, with the returns of Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito.
The other stuff that led up to the Brooks Baldwin ninth-inning walk-off single against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman didn't carry immediate answers. If the Sox could solve the riddles that have come with their offensive inadequacies Cora's club wouldn't be sitting two games under .500.
The Red Sox struck out 11 times. The Red Sox went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox left nine runners on base. That was Saturday.
The Red Sox have struck out more than any team in baseball (158). The Red Sox have swung and missed than any team in baseball. The Red Sox have left the second-most runners on base. The Red Sox have struck out more than anyone with runners in scoring position by a long-shot. (They have also had far and away the most at-bats in such situations.) That was the season.
In a nutshell, this team is simply not taking advantage of the opportunities presented themselves.
Trevor Story (2-for-18, 10 K's). Triston Casas (2-for-13). Rafael Devers (3-for-15, 5 K's). Alex Bregman (5-for-24). This is what the big-ticket items in the Red Sox' batting order is doing with runners in scoring position. And, with runners in scoring position, the picture is even worse, with Story, for instance, going 0-for-8 with six strikeouts.
Perhaps another Crochet game will offer the impetus for a narrative change. But when it comes to fixing what truly has ailed this group, there is going to be more than just a one-game proof of life.