BOSTON — So it goes for these White Sox, who have found all kinds of ways and taken all avenues to defeat imaginable in 2024.
With All-Star left-hander Garrett Crochet starting against the Red Sox on Saturday at Fenway Park, a road to victory was provided early with a two-run home run from Andrew Vaughn against Cooper Criswell in the first inning.
Exactly how they had drawn it up.
Only to see the Red Sox (72-70) bash Crochet for four runs in the bottom of the first in a 7-5 defeat, the Sox’ 111th of the season.
“That’s baseball, man,” said Vaughn, who had three hits. “It really is.”
It’s baseball the Sox way, that’s for sure. Lose late, lose early and in between. This result gave them 19 series losses in a row.
A single, double, RBI groundout, home run and double is how the Red Sox greeted Crochet. Tyler O’Neill’s homer ruffled a hanging green sign above the Green Monster in left. Connor Wong’s double thumped off the Monster.
Along the way, former Sox player Romy Gonzalez singled, stole second and third on Crochet and scored a run. Gonzalez had three hits and three stolen bases.
“Didn’t command the fastball to the glove side; everything was kind of just mid-thigh,” said Crochet, who struck out 10 Red Sox over six innings in a victory on June 7 in Chicago. “In hindsight, guys were just turning and burning. And I kept attempting to go back in there. Something I’ve been burned by before this year and wish I would have learned by now. Just kind of how it went down.”
Garrett Crochet pic.twitter.com/fTsm3kPYfq
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) September 8, 2024
It was 4-2 Red Sox after a 36-pitch first for Crochet (6-11), who was on a short leash to begin with as his innings and pitches are watched in the late stages of his first season as a starter and his first since coming off Tommy John surgery.
“He just had a tough outing,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “They put some good swings on the ball. They had a good game plan. They had good swings and made him work that first inning.”
Crochet lasted only two innings, finishing with a scoreless second and three strikeouts and one walk. His ERA, at 3.02 while he was tossing a scoreless inning in the All-Star Game, is up to 3.83. He’ll have three more starts left if he goes to the end of the season, albeit more short ones.
“It’s tough,” he said of the limitations. “Had a long first inning and knowing I don’t have much more to go, tried to be a little more efficient in the second one. Ultimately, the tough part isn’t the preparation; it’s just putting the bullpen in a tough spot, putting the team in a tough spot overall. If it were any other given start, it’s like maybe I can go out there and put up some more zeros and help keep us in the fight, so we don’t have to pivot so early.”
After Crochet was gone, the Red Sox tacked on three more runs to build a 7-2 lead, one on O’Neill’s second homer and 27th of the season off Enyel De Los Santos in the fifth inning.
The lead was trimmed to 7-5 on former Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi’s three-run homer into the bullpen in right in the seventh. Benintendi has an .856 OPS since the All-Star break with nine home runs.
Grady Sizemore pic.twitter.com/L0lE1WyVvD
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) September 8, 2024
The Sox since the All-Star break? They’re 5-40. And at 32-111, they must finish 11-8 to avoid tying the 1962 Mets’ record of 120 losses in a season.
“If we’re sitting here harping on it all the time and focusing on the record and wins, it can be draining,” said Sizemore, who has seen the team go 4-25 since he took over for fired manager Pedro Grifol.
This season was down the drain a long time ago.
Nineteen games to go. How many more losses? Nobody knows.