Kutter Crawford floods strike zone with 6 different pitches in start against Mariners
The focus all winter and during spring training was on the Red Sox starting pitching staff. Through three games this season, the starters have delivered and have been a bright spot.
On Saturday night, Kutter Crawford tossed six strong innings in the Red Sox 4-3 loss to the Mariners.
The 27-year-old allowed one unearned run, three hits, and one walk while striking out seven batters.
“They hit the fastball pretty well,” Crawford said. “So we knew kind of spin it early (with breaking balls), and then I kind of started pitching backwards. I started using the four-seamer a little bit more, and it worked out.”
The Mariners went 0-for-6 against Crawford’s four-seam heater, all from the third inning on. Last season, his four-seamer was one of his best pitches within his arsenal, holding opponents to a .164 batting average.
“It’s always good getting that first one out of the way,” Crawford shared after the game. “The result isn’t what we wanted, but overall, it was a pretty good ballgame.”
Crawford used six different pitches on Saturday. He threw 30 sweepers, 24 cutters, 20 four-seam fastballs, six knuckle-curves, two splitters, and two sliders, per Baseball Savant. He recorded 10 swings and misses, including five with his sweeper. His four-seamer averaged 93.3 mph and topped out at 94.4 mph.
Crawford tossed 84 pitches in his start, and one of the keys to his overall success on Saturday night was his ability to throw strikes. The righty threw a first pitch strike 61.9% of the time on Saturday night while getting the Mariners offense whiff at his pitches 26.3% of the time.
The staff’s ability to throw strikes has not gone unnoticed by Alex Cora.
“It’s been great,” Cora said of his staff’s strike-throwing early on. “We’ve been doing this for a while now, and I know it’s not, it’s too early, it’s only three games, but we’ve been feeling pretty comfortable in the way they’re approaching the games, the way they’re throwing the ball.”
