Crawford has learning experience in latest campaign for '24 rotation

BOSTON -- The most damaging hit that Kutter Crawford gave up on a soggy Sunday afternoon against the White Sox was self-inflicted, and turned what could have been a win into a 3-2 loss at Fenway that was called due to rain after six innings.

Chalk it up as a good learning experience for a 27-year-old who is completing his first full season in the Major Leagues, most of it as a starting pitcher.

The issue isn’t the two-out, two-run double by Elvis Andrus on a slider that caught too much plate and turned a 1-0 lead for the Red Sox into a 2-1 deficit in the fifth inning.

What haunted Crawford is the fact that the two runners who scored on the hit both walked earlier in the inning.

The first was a leadoff walk to Gavin Sheets on a 3-2 curveball in the dirt. The second was a two-out walk to No. 9 hitter Korey Lee, who was down in the count 0-2 and then took the next four pitches for balls.

“The walks put him in a bad spot,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “I actually talked to him about it. The Sheets at-bat, on 3-2, he threw a fastball and he fouled it off. Then he went with a breaking ball and ended up walking him. Like, you should be attacking that guy. If he hits it out of the ballpark, it’s a tie game.”

Crawford took full accountability for the mistakes, and vowed to learn from them.

“It all started with a leadoff walk, and then a two-out walk, and those are things that I can’t let happen,” Crawford said. “I’ve got to attack the strike zone in those situations, and it came back to bite me.”

Which walk annoyed Crawford more?

“Probably the No. 9 hitter,” Crawford said. “The two-out walk. The leadoff walk, that’s kind of a cardinal sin as a pitcher, but that two-out walk in that situation, I’ve got to go right after him and get him out. I can’t let him get by on a free pass.”

So what happened on that at-bat with Lee?

“Just tried to kind of spin him away,” Crawford said. “He made a good adjustment and started taking those pitches away, and I took two chances out there. After those two chances, I should have gotten back in the zone.”

Overall, it has been a positive season for Crawford, who is 6-8 with a 4.23 ERA in 30 games (22 starts).

Crawford has one start left, and he would like to give the Red Sox reason to think he should start next season in the rotation.

But that is yet to be determined. After all, Boston is still in search of a new leader in the front office, and that person will certainly have a big say in how the rotation will line up in 2024 and beyond.

Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck are in the same boat as Crawford. Cora’s inclination is that all three will at least prepare this offseason as if they will be starters next season for the purpose of building up endurance, etc.

“I think it applies to all [three] of them,” Cora said. “I mean, you can always adjust to the other role. Right now, we don't know. That's the reality of where we’re at. We know the players, we know what [we want to] do.

“We’re going through the whole process as normal as possible. We’ll have our meetings. We talk about the season and the offseason plans and what you need to do. And then at one point, somebody's going to take over, and if we have to make adjustments, we will. If not, we just continue.”

Crawford appreciated that message that Cora delivered.

“Obviously I don’t try to get too far ahead of myself, but I feel like I should have an opportunity as a starter. So hearing him say those words makes me want to work harder and focus on making those adjustments in the offseason and really hitting the gym hard,” Crawford said.

The righty certainly sounds as if he has a plan this winter.

“Definitely maintain the diet. The nutrition stuff, that stuff isn’t going to change,” Crawford said. “For me, my big focus probably is going to be a lot of my lower half, trying to get my lower half as strong as possible. That way I can pitch deeper in games without my lower half getting tired.”