Crochet allowed two solo homers in the first inning but then settled in. The lefty led the Red Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Dodgers in front of a sold-out, mixed crowd of 36,687. “The first inning, I‘ve never seen anything like that," Cora said. “Credit to them.”

The Red Sox bounced back from a series opening loss to the Dodgers but Garrett Crochet thinks media coverage of the game favored LA's stars.

Crochet (12-4) allowed two runs in the first inning, then combined with Justin Wilson, Garrett Whitlock, and Aroldis Chapman to blank the Dodgers for eight innings.

To counter the legendary Dodgers southpaw, Red Sox manager Alex Cora has stacked his lineup. Rob ‘Southpaw Slayer’ Refsnyder will lead off and serve as designated hitter, with regular leadoff man Jarren Duran batting seventh, instead. Romy Gonzalez, another prodigious lefty killer is batting cleanup and manning second base.

Perhaps a decade or so from now, Garrett Crochet will be relying on smarts and guile like 18-year veteran Clayton Kershaw, the future Hall of Famer he matched up with for the first time on an electric Saturday night at Fenway Park.

Red Sox Named Best Fit for All-Star Twins Ace Joe Ryan originally appeared on Athlon Sports. At the MLB trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox are expected to pursue starting pitching. They have solid trade assets to land a high-leverage starter who could pair with Garrett Crochet atop the rotation.

Garrett Crochet and Alex Bregman are good starts, but the Red Sox need to get another top-tier starter, reliever and another big bat.