Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day, But Red Sox Lean on Dominant Crochet in Gritty Extra-Inning Win Over Yankees
By: Chris Felico
The Boston Red Sox gutted out a gritty 2-1 extra-inning victory over the rival New York Yankees on Friday night at Fenway Park, when catcher, Carlos Narváez, batted in the winning run. Now, while the win was vital, it wasn’t without some lingering concerns—particularly regarding one of the club’s most anticipated young call-ups.
Roman Anthony, 21, continued to struggle in his first taste of Major League action. The young outfielder went 0-for-3 with a walk, dropping his average to a dismal .067 (1-for-15) through his first four games. Though he hit .288 at Triple-A Worcester and turned plenty of heads along the way, the jump to big league pitching has exposed some expected growing pains. His timing looks off, he’s been late on velocity, and he’s falling behind in counts after routinely taking first-pitch strikes.
But while Anthony continues to search for his first breakout moment, the night belonged to Garrett Crochet.
The Red Sox ace delivered a masterpiece, throwing 8.1 innings of dominant baseball—eight of them scoreless—striking out seven, walking just one, and allowing only four hits. The lone blemish? A game-tying solo homer off the bat of Aaron Judge in the top of the ninth, which briefly silenced Fenway. Still, Crochet’s performance was as gutsy as it was electric.
His defining moment came in the fifth inning, when the Yankees put runners on the corners with nobody out, threatening to tie the game or take the lead. Crochet didn’t flinch. He struck out the next two hitters with a pinpoint fastball and a biting slider, then got Paul Goldschmidt to ground out to escape the jam unscathed. It was the kind of high-leverage sequence that separates aces from the rest—and it preserved Boston’s slim 1-0 lead.
That escape loomed large after the Sox squandered a bases-loaded opportunity of their own in the bottom of the eighth, with Trevor Story flying out to the warning track. Boston’s struggles to add insurance runs late in games has been a frustrating theme throughout the season.
Fortunately, the bullpen needed minimal work thanks to Crochet’s length. Aroldis Chapman came in to record the final two outs of the ninth, and Garrett Whitlock pitched a scoreless 10th, aided by a clutch throw from Carlos Narváez, who gunned down Anthony Volpe attempting to steal third with no outs. That momentum-shifting play set the stage for a rare moment of extra-inning clutch hitting—a walk-off that delivered a much-needed jolt to a team that's often wilted in tight, late-game situations this year.
Make no mistake—this was a different kind of Red Sox win. Not the 27-run fireworks display like the one last weekend in the Bronx, but the kind of low-scoring, tightly managed victory that’s far more sustainable. It's the kind of win you can build something on.
With Crochet asserting himself as a true frontline starter, Hunter Dobbins emerging as a reliable No. 2, and the potential returns to form from Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito, and Walker Buehler, there’s suddenly a blueprint for this rotation to carry the load. The offense may not need to be great—just timely and competent.
The win keeps hope alive, though Boston still sits well behind in the AL East and remains several games out of the final AL Wild Card spot. But if the rotation locks in and the lineup—even with Roman Anthony still finding his way—can just do enough, then maybe, just maybe, there’s a path back to October baseball at Fenway for the first time since 2021.
The question now is simple: can the Red Sox keep this up—and finally make a legitimate playoff push?