Why Rain Turned Into Benefit For Red Sox Pitcher Kutter Crawford
Kutter Crawford had a fairly rested arm when he took the mound for the Boston Red Sox in Miami on Tuesday night against the Marlins.
He has Mother Nature to thank for that.
Crawford was slated to take the ball last Wednesday in the series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox righty only recorded a few outs before the rain poured down at Fenway Park. The game was eventually suspended and rescheduled for Aug. 26.
Given the limited workload from Wednesday, Crawford also entered Tuesday with an extra day of rest and certainly put it to work. The Red Sox starter tallied six innings of one-run ball on just three hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.
“We looked at that one as a deload start,” Crawford told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Having an extra day with the two off-days. I felt good going into this one. Mechanically, every thing was syncing up. I was able to pound the zone.”
Crawford pitched 129 1/3 innings throughout the duration of the 2023 season. He already sits at just south of 100 innings in 2024 after Tuesday’s outing. Crawford credited Alex Cora and his staff for finding the balance of resting arms and relying on deeper outings to drive the rotation.
“He’s doing a good job of protecting us but also letting us go when we need to go,” Crawford added.
After an odd stretch of team struggles in these outings, the Red Sox earned the win with Crawford on the mound for the second time in three starts.