For the first time in his career Kutter Crawford has earned a big league starting rotation spot out of spring training, but his last tune up before the regular season could have gone better.
The 27-year-old right-hander struggled in his final start of the spring, allowing five runs over 5.2 innings in the Red Sox 5-5 tie with the Atlanta Braves. Facing a lineup loaded with All-Stars, Crawford allowed eight hits and two walks while serving up a pair of towering two-run home runs to Braves catcher Sean Murphy.
He also tallied five strikeouts, but the most encouraging part of his day was the fact he threw 88 pitches and didn’t come out until there were two outs in the sixth inning. Crawford rarely pitched that deep into any game last season, exceeding 88 pitches in only six of his 31 appearances.
In addition to Crawford, veteran relievers Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin each made their second appearances in the last three days. Jansen followed his excellent outing Friday with a perfect top of the seventh, and Martin threw a scoreless eighth, hitting a batter before striking out Tyler Tolve to wrap up his day.
Triston Casas had an excellent day both at the plate and in the field. The first baseman went 1 for 3 with a two-run single while also recording a dazzling unassisted double play on a line drive by Ozzie Albies in the bottom of the first. Masataka Yoshida also scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and recorded an RBI single in the fifth, and Allan Castro tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh to round out the scoring.