Before the game, Sox manager Alex Cora said Crochet seemed unshaken after giving up 11 runs (10 earned) in 1\u2154 innings last Monday against the Twins<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s crushing his crossword puzzles before the game, he\u2019s talking to everybody, nothing has changed,\u201d Cora said. \u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of him. When he\u2019s dominant, he\u2019s the same thing the next day. Last week, it was a tough one for him. It was business as usual the next day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Get Starting Point<\/span><\/p>\n A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n And for four innings, Crochet looked like the pitcher who threw six scoreless innings against the Reds in the season opener<\/a>, allowing just one run while collecting seven of his eight strikeouts.<\/span><\/p>\n But in the fifth, with the game tied at 1, Crochet left a sinker up to Jahmai Jones, who lifted it to the light pole in left-center for a solo homer. Then, after walking Gleyber Torres and allowing a single to Matt Vierling, Dillon Dingler stung him for a three-run homer that broke the game open.<\/span><\/p>\n The 11-run avalanche felt like an outlier. But this one stung Crochet because, for most of it, he felt in control.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLast one it was so bad that you can\u2019t really even have any emotion about it,\u201d Crochet said. \u201cThis one, I felt like I was just dominating until I wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In four starts since the season opener, Crochet has allowed 23 runs (21 earned) on 27 hits in 18 innings. It\u2019s the worst four-game stretch of his career.<\/span><\/p>\n He went through a similar early-season rut two years ago when he gave up 19 runs over a four-start stretch in April with the White Sox, but he bounced back by going 4-1 with a 0.93 ERA in May and put together an All-Star campaign, with 209 strikeouts and a 3.58 ERA despite a 6-12 record.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOh, I remember it,\u201d Crochet said. \u201cNo, I\u2019ve been bringing it up. I\u2019m like, \u2018All right, now I\u2019m just going to have a 0.90 in May.\u2019 It was a similar stretch as what I\u2019m going through right now. Can\u2019t find the zone, and when I cover the zone, it gets hammered.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Plenty of Sox starters have gone through patches just as rough \u2014 from Josh Beckett (2002 and 2003) and Pedro Martinez (2004) to Curt Schilling (2005) and Tim Wakefield (2005 and twice in 2007) to Nick Pivetta (2022) and Walker Buehler (2025).<\/span><\/p>\n But with the Sox 8-13<\/a>, it\u2019s no consolation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d Crochet said. \u201cYou look at how it ended and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, sure. But this game will beat you up if you let it. And I threw 4\u2154 damn good innings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After the Twins outing, Crochet acknowledged he was reaching for answers \u2014 maybe he was tipping pitches, he figured. But after Sunday, he said he had a better idea what was happening.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cRight now every mistake that I make is getting absolutely hammered, but it\u2019s because they\u2019re mistakes when I\u2019m behind in the count,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen it\u2019s 1\u2154 [innings] and 11 [runs allowed], it seems like they knew what was coming. But tonight it was just count leverage. [When I had it], I had success. When I didn\u2019t have it, I got banged around pretty good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Crochet said that, as a group, the pitching staff took a clear-eyed view at their numbers this season \u2014 \u201chow poor we\u2019ve been\u201d \u2014 and are fully aware that the team\u2019s success hinges on its performance.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s kind of how the team was built,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I was acquired last year, so the performance up to this point \u2014 I\u2019ve said it\u2019s unacceptable multiple times at this point going back to Houston \u2014 but that\u2019s still the case.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Trevor](\"https:\/\/bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/6GW6JTZZCBOXK4FT7JSHSJJE64.jpg?auth=a16075a337660f349e687e5256b19364a6c3c0205f0b71abc85c092098fbd7be&width=1440\")
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