Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford in jeopardy of not being ready for Opening Day

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The Red Sox opened their Grapefruit League schedule Saturday afternoon when they defeated the Rays 6-4. Right-hander Quinn Priester started the game and went two innings, giving up two hits, surrendering one run, and allowing one walk.

Priester will be an option to break camp and pitch in the backend of the Sox’ bullpen due to Kutter Crawford’s knee injury.

Crawford is behind schedule to begin camp due to right patellar tendon soreness. There’s a possibility the righty, who made a career-high 33 starts last season, will miss the start of the season.

“With Kutter, that’s the one it looks like is going to be long,” Alex Cora said at Charlotte Sports Park on Saturday afternoon. “Opening Day, right now, is an ‘if.’ Let’s see what happens.

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“He’s not feeling well,” Cora said. “He’s behind. We’ve got to make sure the knee is good so the shoulder doesn’t suffer.”

Crawford’s knee injury dates back to last season when he first felt the issue early on last season while covering first base. The issue never came to light through the media, and he pushed through the season.

“He grinded through it,” Cora said last week. “The offseason was OK as far as the rehab. He had some good days and bad days. He’s been here for a while. He lives in the area. So that’s a good thing. People were able to treat him here. But it hasn’t kind of like gained momentum the right way.”

The right-handed hurler still made a team-high 33 starts and led the club in innings, tossing 183 2/3 frames while posting a 4.36 ERA. He was solid through his first eight starts of the season, posting a 1.75 ERA with a 24.3% strikeout rate but was bit by the home run ball last season, surrendering 34 long balls, the most in the major leagues.

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His velocity was down last season as a result of the injury.

“As you can tell, my velo was declining a little bit,” Crawford said to the media last week when talking about his knee issue. His velocity did dip, averaging 92.6 mph on his fastball, down from 93.6 mph in 2023.

Crawford threw a bullpen on Friday at Fenway South, but the pain was still present. The team is having him do low-intensity work while they weigh the appropriate options for the righty.