Garrett Crochet's stellar outing leads Red Sox to Opening Day win over Reds

Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald on Mar 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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CINCINNATI, Ohio — The 2025 Red Sox excelled at creating opportunities for themselves, but often struggled to capitalize on them.

That was the story of Opening Day 2026, too, as the Boston bats tallied 12 hits, including three from leadoff man Roman Anthony, but were kept off the scoreboard until late in their 3-0 victory over the Reds.

Garrett Crochet starred in the win for the Red Sox. While his teammates struggled to convert hits into runs, he held the Reds at bay for six innings, allowing just three hits, two walks, and striking out eight.

“He did an amazing job,” manager Alex Cora said of his ace. “That last inning, (he) started with a walk and then he just found it back and finished strong, and gave us a chance for the offense to cash in.”

Crochet breezed through most of the game before capping off his outing with a triumphant escape. After combining for three base runners through the first five innings, the Reds loaded the bases on a one-out walk and back-to-back singles for veteran slugger Eugenio Suárez, who hit 49 home runs last season.

Undeterred, Crochet got Suárez and Spencer Steer swinging and walked off the still-loaded diamond.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott struck out four and worked around seven hits and a walk to blank Boston for six innings. The Red Sox put multiple men on base three times in the first five innings, but none of their runners so much as advanced to third until the seventh.

A late-inning sparkplug

Marcelo Mayer wasn’t in the starting lineup on his first Red Sox Opening Day, but he was the late-innings hero the offense needed. Pinch-hitting for second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Mayer led off the seventh with a double, the team’s first extra-base hit of the year, advanced to third on Carlos Narváez’s sacrifice bunt, and scored the first Red Sox run on an RBI single by Ceddanne Rafaela.

“They know we’re going to use everybody,” Cora said of not starting Mayer against a lefty. “We talked to him at the end of camp, I know he wants to play against lefties, but that’s where we’re at right now. … We’ll maximize the roster.”

The two insurance runs Boston added in the ninth began with Mayer, too. He led off with a single, then stood on first and watched the first two outs go up on the scoreboard.

It was then that the strategic element of the ABS system came into play. Anthony used Boston’s remaining challenge to turn an inning-ending Strike 3 call into a two-out walk, which paved the way for Trevor Story and Jarren Duran to plate a run apiece with RBI singles.

“The pinch-hit there, it was huge,” Cora said of Mayer. “Narvi with the bunt, Ceddanne put the ball in play with two strikes. And that’s who we are. That’s what we’re trying to do.

“Last year I think we led the big league with at-bats (with) men in scoring position but we struck out a lot. Today, we kind of put the ball in play, we took a walk, Jarren put the ball in play, Story did too, and it was good to see.”

Cora upstaged his former Red Sox manager Terry Francona with airtight pitching management. Justin Slaten and Garrett Whitlock worked around a leadoff walk and ground-rule double, respectively, to keep the Reds off the board in the seventh and eighth innings.

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