Red Sox push back ace Garrett Crochet's next start to next week
'I kind of knew throughout the season that we'd try to find extra rest for me when we could,' said Crochet, who leads the majors with 141⅓ innings. 'I like a five-day [routine], but I appreciate the front office and the managerial staff and everybody looking out for me.'
Crochet described this as 'a good time to catch my breath a little bit' because of the team's day off Thursday.
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'Before we really get into the heat of August and September, while the offdays are still kind to us and we're able to do this without throwing everyone else off schedule as well, it's a benefit to me,' he said.
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Cora said: 'This is something we've been talking about for a while here, kind of give him a breather.'
The Red Sox have not named a fill-in starter. Among their options:
Cooper Criswell
(who returned to the majors on Tuesday), a call-up, a bullpen game, and an external addition prior to Thursday's 6 p.m. trade deadline.
'All of the above [are possible], I guess, right?' Cora said.
Lefthander
Kyle Harrison
, who has a 4.78 ERA in six Triple A starts since joining the organization in the
Rafael Devers
trade last month, is scheduled to start for Worcester on Friday, with
David Sandlin
set to piggyback out of the bullpen. So the Sox could call up Harrison and have Sandlin start the minor league game in his Triple A debut.
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Walker Buehler
will start against Houston on Saturday,
Lucas Giolito
on Sunday.
Crochet prefers this arrangement — a few extra days off — over the other approach, mixing in, say, an 80-pitch outing, as the Sox did in May against the Mets.
'Then you're putting the bullpen in an awkward spot,' he said. 'I feel guilty doing it to the [other starters], but that's what we're all here for. We're here to pick each other up and pull for one another.'
Crochet had eight days between his last start before the All-Star break and his first start after (and skipped pitching in the exhibition for the sake of extra rest). Now he will get another nine or 10 days. Will the Sox give him another such break at some point in the next two months?
'I'm not sure, honestly,' he said. 'I think realistically … as we get into August and September, what we're looking like as far as postseason picture [will influence that].
'I've been feeling really good. Last year [in his first season as a starter], I didn't know what to expect. This year, I went into the break with 20 more innings than last year, but felt a little bit better than I expected, to be honest. And that's kind of [been] true throughout the season for me.'
Bregman scratched but OK
Alex Bregman
, originally in the lineup for the series finale against the Twins on Wednesday afternoon, was removed after a moment of transparency with Cora.
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'I told him, let me know in the morning how you feel,' Cora said. 'Giving the chance to be honest with me in the morning, text me in the morning. He's like, 'I can go, but I'm a little bit tired.' '
Bregman had started the previous five games, his first time playing more than two days in a row since returning from a right quadriceps strain.
Tim Healey can be reached at
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