NEW YORK — All Garrett Crochet wanted to do after delivering the most impressive playoff pitching performance of the 2020s was play “Clash Royale” on his phone.
So he did.
In the afterglow of an unforgettable October masterclass, the Boston ace plopped his substantial backside onto a sofa in the Yankee Stadium visitors clubhouse and did some mobile gaming. He looked entirely unbothered, like someone who had just completed a moderately difficult workout and not a 117-pitch gem in Game 1 of the wild-card round en route to a 3-1 Red Sox victory that put Boston just one win away from sending the Yankees home and moving on to the ALDS.
And so, for about 10 minutes Tuesday, as he waited to be summoned to the media conference room, Crochet just sat there, alone, victorious, dip-spitting into a plastic water bottle, swiping away, the bright colors of “Clash Royale” pulsing on his phone, the dopamine rushing to his brain.
Meanwhile, all around him, media members scurried about the room, asking his awe-inspired teammates to describe what they’d just witnessed.
“Unreal.”
“He’s a f***ing beast.”
“Incredible, but that’s who he’s been all year.”
It’s true. In his first season with the Red Sox — which was also his first complete campaign as a starting pitcher — the bald 26-year-old has established himself as one of the sport’s premier arms. His has been a remarkable rise. Over the past 18 months, Crochet has gone from surprise Opening Day starter for the worst team in MLB history to the unimpeachable ace of a World Series contender. He is the epitome of a frontline starter: overflowing with moxie, brimming with self-confidence, aware of his own greatness, arrogant and damn proud of it.
“He is a guy that wants it bad, to be honest with you,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Tuesday. “He was in a situation last year that he was learning how to become a starter. He got traded to become the ace. He got paid like an ace, and since Day 1, he has acted like that.”
On Tuesday in the Bronx, making his first career playoff start, Crochet continued his ascension with an outing for the ages. He surrendered just four hits and punched out 11 hitters across 7 2/3 innings of work. The only real blemish on his ledger came via much-maligned Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, who roped an opposite-field solo homer in the second inning.
“Just determined to keep the lead where it was, at one,” Crochet said afterward when asked about the Volpe blast. “Just wanted to do everything I could to give my team a fighting chance to get back into it.”
That’s exactly what happened.
Following the home run, the man whose teammates call him “The Beast” went into cruise control, retiring the final 17 hitters he faced and keeping the deficit at one. Meanwhile, Yankees starter Max Fried, making his first postseason start in pinstripes, was brilliant in his own right. He had Red Sox hitters flailing and guessing all night. The gangly southpaw exited to a standing ovation with one out in the seventh and a zero next to BOS on the scoreboard.
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But that change provided an opening. And immediately, the Sox pounced.
Yankees hurler Luke Weaver allowed a well-worked, 11-pitch walk to center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela. Then nine-hole hitter Nick Sogard lofted one for a knock into shallow right-center field. Yankees captain and reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge, playing through a flexor strain in his throwing elbow, sauntered toward the ball, scooped it up and threw meekly to second. Sogard slid in just ahead of the tag for a double.
Judge’s arm has been barking for a few months now. The issue was serious enough to sideline him for 10 days this summer. He has since returned to the outfield but is undeniably wary of putting full gas behind a throw. In September, his average outfield throw velocity dropped significantly from his career norms. The Red Sox are clearly aware of these limitations, and they took advantage in a massive moment.
The extra base proved crucial, as Masataka Yoshida promptly laced a two-run, go-ahead single up the middle. Just three hitters had come to the plate since Fried’s night ended at 102 pitches, yet somehow the Yankees were suddenly playing from behind.
They would never recapture the lead. Crochet made sure of that. Pitching with an advantage for the first time all night, Boston’s ace retired New York in order on just six pitches in the seventh. That brisk inning encouraged Cora to send him back out for the eighth, even though he was at 100 pitches.
“I wanted to honor that decision,” Crochet said after the game. “I felt like he’s put a lot of faith in me this year, and I haven’t let him down yet. So I was going to be damn sure this wasn’t the first time.”
Crochet struck out Trent Grisham, allowed a single to Volpe and then got Austin Wells looking on a dastardly, full-count fastball that clocked in at 100.2 mph. It was the 117th and final pitch of Crochet’s evening. It was also his fastest.
“Every time he takes the mound, we love going out there and playing defense behind him,” Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman, who played in his 100th career postseason game Tuesday and drove in an insurance run for Boston, gushed about Crochet. “Just a performance that big-time pitchers make, and that’s who he is, and I am super proud of him.”
Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman finished the eighth before returning for a hairy ninth. The former Yankee allowed three straight singles to load the bases with no outs. But the veteran flame-thrower escaped disaster via a weak flyout and a pair of punchouts, ensuring that Crochet’s night won the day.
In an era when starting pitchers work shallower into ballgames than ever before, Crochet’s performance was historic. It was the most pitches thrown by a starter in a postseason game since Stephen Strasburg threw 117 in Game 2 of the 2019 NLCS, and it was the most thrown by a pitcher in his playoff debut since Jacob deGrom’s first October start in 2016.
The last time a Red Sox starter threw more than 117 pitches in a playoff game? Pedro Martinez, 2003, ALCS, Game 7, a night that lives on forever for both fan bases.
Tuesday’s contest didn’t carry quite that level of import, but for the outlook of this postseason, it might prove to be absolutely crucial. The Yankees, relegated to the wild-card round via the Blue Jays’ division-winning tiebreaker advantage, are now on the brink, one loss away from a premature vacation. Crochet won’t pitch again in this series, but the impact of his magnificent outing and the advantage he secured his team will shadow the rest of the showdown. His next start, should the Red Sox advance, would likely come in Game 2 of the ALDS in Toronto.
Until then, he’ll play spectator as he readies himself for another memorable night under the lights. And in the pockets of downtime, he’ll likely pass the time with more “Clash Royale.”
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