Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet bounced back from a poor spring, delivering six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in Boston's 3-0 Opening Day win over Cincinnati.
After struggling with a new splitter during spring training, Crochet abandoned the experiment and returned to his reliable three-fastball approach that earned him a 2.59 ERA last season.
Boston's bullpen and timely hitting (including pinch-hitter Marcelo Mayer's double and two RBI singles) sealed the victory after Crochet's dominant start.
The Red Sox plan to pitch Crochet on a six-day schedule through April, matching his best performance pattern from last year.
Note: This is a straightforward game recap with no apparent bias; the piece fairly credits both Crochet's pitching and the team's offensive contributions to the win.