The Boston Red Sox pulled out a big victory over the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers on Friday. Despite getting the win, Red Sox’s starting pitcher Kutter Crawford made some ignoble MLB history during the game.
Crawford surrendered four home runs to the Rangers in 5.1 innings pitched in his latest start. That helped the pitcher set a new record as he’s allowed 12 home runs over his last three starts, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale on X.
In a start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 21, Crawford gave up five home runs in five innings. In his next trip to the mound on July 27 he allowed three homers to the New York Yankees in 4.2 innings. And now, in his most recent start, the Rangers went deep off of Crawford four more times. That’s an incredible 12 home runs in just 15 innings pitched over three starts.
While the Red Sox's offense had Crawford’s back in his most recent homer-filled outing, the team is just 1-2 over the pitcher's three historic starts. And it’s not exactly as if the Red Sox’s bats have gone quiet with Crawford on the bump. Boston’s offense has scored 25 runs in the pitchers’ last three outings, including eight runs against the Yankees in an extra-innings loss.
Red Sox’s Kutter Crawford has been effective despite giving up the most HRs in baseball
The 28-year-old righty is now 7-8 on the season. Despite his propensity for giving up the long ball, Crawford has produced a very reasonable 3.81 ERA on the season along with a 1.089 WHIP, 8.6 K/9 and an ERA+ of 115. He's up to 2.1 WAR in 127.2 innings this year.
Although, as you might expect, he does lead all of baseball with 26 home runs surrendered so far this season. That works out to a 1.8 HR/9 rate, which is only slightly above his career homer rate of 1.5.
Despite the epic number of round trippers Crawford has allowed in 2024, he’s still managed to be a solid pitcher for the Red Sox. In fact, he’s been the most reliable rotation piece for the team behind Tanner Houck. Crawford is second among Boston starters in ERA, innings pitched and ERA+. He leads all starters in WHIP and is tops on the team in strikeouts with 122.
The Red Sox remain in striking distance of a playoff berth thanks to a strong offense featuring third baseman Rafael Devers and Rookie of the Year hopeful Ceddanne Rafaela. Boston also improved by grabbing several reinforcements at the trade deadline.
Entering play on Saturday, the Red Sox are 5.5 games behind the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles who are tied for first place in the AL East. And the Sox are just two games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third American League Wild Card spot.
Follow Us
Subscribe