After bouncing between the bullpen and the rotation for much of his career, Boston Red Sox pitcher Kutter Crawford has emerged as one of the most consistent starters in the majors this season.
Crawford (2-2, 2.24 ERA) has allowed more than three earned runs just once this season -- and that came in his most recent start, a 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Crawford will look to bounce back Saturday when the Red Sox face the host St. Louis Cardinals in the middle contest of their three-game series.
The Cardinals recorded a 10-6 win in the series opener Friday night. For Boston, it was the third straight loss and fourth in five games.
Crawford has pitched six or more innings in his previous five starts this season. He has allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his nine starts overall.
"Last year, there were a lot of five-inning outings," Crawford said. "And I want to be a starting pitcher in this league, and starting pitchers need to go six and they need to be relied on every five days. So that was one of my focuses coming into this season. Try to eat up more innings and stay as healthy as I can and throw the ball every five days."
Getting through six innings in his previous start was a chore. He needed 35 pitches to retire the Rays in the first inning while failing behind 3-0.
"I struggled with the command a bit, obviously," Crawford said. "The two-out walk was kind of the icing on the cake as far as getting myself in trouble. I felt like they were kind of taking my spin away from me on the outside half of the plate. Kind of leaning out there, shooting stuff the other way."
Crawford soldiered on through a season-high 101 pitches to complete six innings and spare the Boston bullpen extra work.
"Those are the outings last year -- that game was 4 2/3 (innings), six runs, seven runs and put us in a bad spot for the rest of the series," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "And after that, he found it and he gave us six. Think he threw the ball OK; he gave us a chance to win the game."
Crawford lost his one career outing against St. Louis after allowing four runs on six hits in four innings in 2021. He will catch the Cardinals coming off a season-best power surge.
Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn hit two-run homers and Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman hit solo shots in Friday's victory. The Cardinals came into the game tied for the fewest homers in the major leagues with 32.
"That's what it's supposed to look like," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "Those guys continue to take really competitive at bats. You look at the last couple of games and they've done that. Today was fun, up and down that lineup, not a whole lot of breathing room."
Winn has hit safely in past nine starts while going 11-for-34. Paul Goldschmidt is 9-for-27 with five runs and five RBIs during his six-game hitting streak.
St. Louis will counter Crawford with Miles Mikolas (3-5, 6.19), who earned a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday. He allowed three runs on six hits and three walks in six innings.
That was just the fourth time he worked six or more innings this season and met the quality start metric.
Mikolas won his only career start against the Red Sox while allowing one run on four hits in six innings on May 14, 2023.
