Garrett Crochet Joins Red Sox Legends With ‘Grinding’ Win Vs. Mariners

Another day, another reason to add Garrett Crochet’s name to the Red Sox record book.

The left-hander gave up one run in six innings of work with eight strikeouts in Boston’s 3-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.

As a result, Crochet leads the majors in starts (16), innings pitched (102 1/3) and strikeouts (125).

Speaking of those punchouts, Crochet made mound history with his latest performance, becoming the fourth pitcher in team history with at least 120 strikeouts over the first 16 starts of a season, according to MLB.com’s Ian Browne.

The other three? Red Sox legend Pedro Martinez, who did it four times, while Roger Clemens and Chris Sale each did it three times, Browne reports.

For his part, the 25-year-old Crochet didn’t sound overly impressed with his work Wednesday.

“I was grinding through the first couple innings,” Crochet told reporters, per Browne. “Didn’t really have the four seam. So just ultimately pivoted and rode the cutter pretty hard, and (I) was able to get some weak contact with it.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora couldn’t agree more.

“He kind of grinded the first few innings and then he found his groove,” Cora said.

Crochet added: “Just the nature of the job, really. They always talk about the 10 days that you have your best stuff, 10 days you have average stuff and 10 days you have your worst. So 20 starts out of the year you just have to find a way, and today was one of those days.”