Entering Friday night with the top ERA (0.66) in the Major Leagues, Kutter Crawford appeared poised to engage in a pitching duel with Cubs rookie southpaw Shota Imanaga, who has impressed since transitioning from Japan.
While Imanaga, who drew interest from the Red Sox during the offseason, continued his stellar performance, Crawford experienced a slight stumble, preventing the anticipated showdown in his team’s 7-1 defeat to Chicago at Fenway Park.
Undoubtedly, the Red Sox would have preferred Crawford to sustain his early-season excellence. However, the right-hander managed to turn a setback into a positive outcome by delivering a quality start (six innings, 10 hits, three earned runs, no walks, four strikeouts) despite facing adversity and encountering some fortuitous hits for the Cubs.
“I think stuff was down,” remarked Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “But like I told him, ‘If that’s the bad one, we’ll take it.’ That outing [last year], it was probably 4 1/3, five runs, us going to the bullpen and putting us in a bad spot the rest of the weekend. And he battled through six [tonight].”
Certainly, six innings was the most crucial aspect for Crawford on Friday. With Boston’s rotation depleted by injuries, Crawford spared the bullpen from a taxing night, especially with Josh Winckowski, who is still building up his workload, scheduled to start on Saturday.
“All in all, I felt like I pitched pretty well,” Crawford reflected. “Some things didn’t go my way behind me, like making a pitch and a guy hitting it off his fist over second base or hitting a gapper off a splitter down the right-field line.
“But overall, I can’t have my head down on a night like this. My main goal every time I take that ball is to try to throw as many strikes as possible and attack hitters, and I feel like when I look back at this outing, I was able to do that.”
Facing Imanaga, who boasts a 0.98 ERA in five MLB starts, left Crawford with little room for error. The only mark against Imanaga was a powerful solo home run to center by Tyler O’Neill in the fourth inning.
“Good split finger,” O’Neill commented on Imanaga’s pitching. “He was able to control the fastball. He didn’t show me any breaking balls today. But you know, he’s a good pitcher.”
Indeed, Imanaga has been more than good thus far, showcasing his talent firsthand against a team that pursued him in the offseason. Cora participated in the Zoom meeting between Boston’s management and Imanaga.
“I think he’s doing the things that we envisioned,” noted Cora. “We talk about those meetings, and it’s fun because you show the pitcher or the position player how we see him. There’s a lot of cool stuff — KinaTrax and all that. We show them what we do here, how we can help you maximize your talents.
“I think what they’re doing is pretty similar to the plan that we had. It’s a good fastball. We were talking about it today. I know everybody was talking about [Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu] Yamamoto, but this guy is good, too. It was a cool meeting, but now he’s with the Cubs.”
While many Japanese players have required an adjustment period to acclimate to Major League Baseball, Imanaga has seamlessly transitioned.
“It’s really impressive,” acknowledged Crawford. “Honestly, that’s a big adjustment coming from Japan to play in the big leagues here, and he’s doing a good job. He’s a good pitcher, throws a lot of strikes, changes speeds real well, and he’s done a really good job so far.”
Crawford’s own performance this season echoes this sentiment. Once again, he showcased a diverse repertoire, mixing in 29 cutters, 29 four-seamers, 13 sweepers, nine splitters, and five knuckle curves. His pitches generated 12 swings and misses.
“He was awesome,” praised O’Neill of Crawford’s performance. “He always gives us a chance to win when he goes out there. They were just finding holes out there, stringing some singles together. A couple good at-bats by them today. Too bad we couldn’t do a better job on our end.”
The Red Sox are eager to reverse their early-season struggles at Fenway Park, where they hold a 3-8 record compared to their 11-5 performance on the road.
“We’re still over .500 [overall],” noted O’Neill. “Obviously, we want to be better than that, but tomorrow is a new day.”
