BOSTON — Coming off a strong season last year, Kutter Crawford had a pair of goals in mind for 2024: Pitch at least 170 innings and make at least 30 starts.
On Tuesday, he accomplished the latter, making him the first Boston Red Sox starter with 30 starts since Nick Pivetta in 2022.
But despite a strong outing in which he allowed three runs over 6 1/3 innings, Crawford took the loss as the Red Sox offense once again fell flat, losing 5-3 to the Baltimore Orioles.
“He gave us more than enough,” manager Alex Cora said. “Velocity was up. The characteristics of the fastball were really good and gave us a chance to win.”
After a 12-run outburst against the Orioles on Monday, Triston Casas said the team joked that they should save some runs for Tuesday. No one was laughing when the Red Sox had just one run on the board through seven innings before scraping out two more in the eighth.
It wasn’t enough to climb out of a 5-1 hole.
Detroit, Kansas City and Minnesota all won (Seattle was playing a late game), and the Red Sox dropped back, yet again, in the American League wild-card standings. They’re now four games behind Minnesota for third place.
For his part, though, Crawford continued to post. Crawford is the only Boston starter this season to have made every scheduled start. Pivetta and Brayan Bello were on the injured list early in the season, and Tanner Houck missed his last turn through the rotation with a dead arm. Cora said Houck has bounced back well the last few days and he is scheduled to pitch Friday in New York, but rookie Richard Fitts has remained with the team in case Houck has a setback. The start on Friday would mark Houck’s 29th.
Crawford, who owns a 4.09 ERA through 167 1/3 innings, has had a solid, if unspectacular, season, surviving a brutal stretch in August where he gave up 12 homers in three starts. But his ability to post every turn has added stability to a rotation in desperate need of it.
“It can be challenging, but we have a really good staff here on both the strength stuff and the training stuff,” he said. “They do a really good job of working with me and making sure I stay on the field and can take every single start.”
On Tuesday, two home runs were the only blemishes on his line. He gave up a solo homer in the first to Cedric Mullins on a four-seamer and then a two-run homer in the third to Mullins on a cutter.
After Crawford opened the fifth inning by allowing back-to-back singles, he got Gunnar Henderson to strike out swinging before Mullins came to the plate for a third time. In that at-bat Crawford fired a first-pitch curveball to Mullins, who hit a tapper back to the mound for an out. Crawford then struck out Anthony Santander to escape the threat.
“A little frustrating, but quality,” Crawford said in assessing his start. “Obviously, Cedric got me twice there. It took me the third at-bat to make an adjustment. And that’s why it’s a little bit frustrating. But, just try to give my team a chance to win.”
Crawford gave the Red Sox a chance, but the offense didn’t didn’t take it. Casas snapped a 3-for-32 stretch with an RBI double in the fourth, scoring Connor Wong, but the Red Sox stranded two runners in the inning.
Crawford got the first out of the seventh before Cora turned to Brennan Bernardino to face the lefties at the top of the order. But Bernardino put two runners on and Luis Guerrero allowed both to score, pushing the Orioles ahead 5-1. The Red Sox cut into the deficit an inning later. Masataka Yoshida hit a run-scoring double followed by a balk that scored Tyler O’Neill from third. But Wong struck out to end the rally.
The Red Sox had 13 strikeouts on the night. Strikeouts have become an increasing problem for the club. They’re now third in the majors behind Seattle and Colorado with 1,405 strikeouts, an average of roughly 9 1/2 strikeouts per game.
After what appeared to be a breakout game on Monday with a dozen runs scored, the bats slid backwards again and Cora admitted to being surprised the offense has struggled for such a prolonged stretch.
“I think everybody is (surprised), right?” he said. “We’re an offensive club, and at one point, we were the best offense in baseball. It felt like whenever we faced a righty, we had a good chance to score a lot of runs, and we haven’t done that the last month, month and a half.”
With 17 games remaining, Red Sox pitching has stabilized, but the offense has yet to find its groove again.
“You don’t win the wild card tonight, you don’t lose it either,” Cora said before the game. “Just up show up and play and win the series, and keep moving forward.”
The Red Sox still have a chance to win the series on Wednesday against the Orioles, but time continues to run out on their wild-card hopes.
(Photo of Crawford: Jaiden Tripi / Getty Images)
