Garrett Crochet avoided a potentially serious injury with quick reflexes. The Boston Red Sox pitcher was clipped in the nose by a line drive in the fourth inning of Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins. However, he stayed in the game through the fifth.and pitched to eight more batters.
Leading off the fourth, Crochet threw a changeup to Carlos Correa that the Twins shortstop hit back up the middle. The right-hander turned away in time to avoid what could have been a direct hit to his face. Yet he almost moved too fast and as he began to turn back, the baseball hit him on the left side of his nose.
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The play looks scarier close-up in slow motion. Yet a replay also shows how fortunate Crochet was to avoid serious injury to his cheek or orbital bone.
Kristian Campbell fielded the deflection in front of second base and threw Correa out, but trainers came out immediately with manager Alex Cora to check Crochet for injuries. Fortunately, he didn’t suffer any facial fractures nor was he even bleeding from his nose initially.
Confirming that he was all right, Crochet stayed in the game and struck out Jonah Bride. He allowed a single to Brooks Lee, but got out of the inning on a Harrison Bader groundout.
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Crochet also returned to pitch the fifth, but walked the first two hitters of the inning. However, he didn’t allow a hit or run from there, retiring Byron Buxton, Ryan Jeffers and Ty France in succession. Garrett Whitlock then took over for Crochet in the sixth.
Following the game, Cora confirmed to reporters that Crochet didn’t sustain a broken nose. The pitcher told reporters that he was briefly shaken up and felt numb in the face, but was fine soon thereafter. He was more concerned about mechanical issues he needs to fix.
The left-hander finished with one run, four hits and two walks allowed with six strikeouts. He threw 89 pitches, 54 for strikes. But the Twins scored two runs off both Whitlock and Justin Slaten to get the win, their second consecutive victory after a four-game losing streak. The Red Sox bullpen has blown eight saves this season and ranks fifth-worst in the AL with a 4.22 ERA.
Boston lost two of three to the Minnesota over the weekend and has lost four of its past five games to drop to 18-18. Yet with the Yankees also losing on Sunday, the Red Sox remain two games out of first place in the American League East.