Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet lost a no-hitter with one out in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game against the Chicago White Sox. One might expect that would be a letdown, but that was not the case for Boston manager Alex Cora.
Cora admitted after the game he had “never been so happy” to see an opponent get a hit off one of his pitchers when Chicago’s Chase Meidroth broke up the no-hit bit with a single. Crochet had thrown 96 pitches at that point, and Cora was weighing whether he would have to remove his young pitcher from a no-hitter in progress.
“Honestly, I’ve never been so happy for the opponent to get a hit,” Cora said, via Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “You’ve got to make decisions. It’s not easy, man. You’re in that dugout and you’ve got a chance to do something special. But at the same time, you have to balance our season. Without him, it’s going to be hard.”
Crochet threw 107 pitches in his previous start, but the Red Sox would presumably want to avoid going much further than that. Had Crochet managed to get through the eighth with the no-hitter intact, Cora would have had a very difficult decision to make on whether to send the 25-year-old back out for one final inning.
The Red Sox traded for Crochet during the offseason and have made a major investment in him as a future ace. Fans would have been furious, but Cora would not be the first manager to prioritize the health of his young ace ahead of a potential historic achievement.
