Red Sox Notes: Kutter Crawford Reflects On Stepping Stone Year

The Boston Red Sox pitched Kutter Crawford for the final time in 2024, allowing the right-hander to face the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday evening.

Crawford struggled, allowing six earned runs through 4 1/3 innings while walking four and striking out six batters. It dragged Crawford to 9-16, however, the finale doesn't tell the whole story for Boston's 28-year-old -- who entered the MLB All-Star break with a 3.00 ERA before undergoing a second-half slump with the rest of the team.

That left Crawford looking back on what was a big-league leap in Boston.

"It was good in the sense of staying healthy and being able to make 33 starts and throw a lot of innings," Crawford told reporters after Boston's 7-2 loss at Fenway Park, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "Obviously I'm not happy with the amount of walks and the homers that I've given up. So it's kind of like mixed emotions about the season. But I am grateful that I was able to get through 33 starts and I have to give a lot of credit to the strength and training staff."

The second-half sting got a hold of the Red Sox, even though the American League wild-card remained up for grabs. Crawford lost nine games in 13 starts following the Midsummer Classic, all while pitching to a 6.59 ERA. He surrendered 20 home runs throughout that stretch and walked 20 batters, presenting obvious areas for improvement. Nevertheless, in enduring a third straight postseason miss and the fifth in the last six years, the Red Sox aren't discouraged at all when looking back on Crawford's 2024 campaign.

"He proved that he can start at this level. He's proven it," Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "There's a few things with the fastball and the split and all that, and we'll talk about that in November, December. But I think if you look at his season overall, it was a solid one. Just a kid that he understands how to pitch, uses both sides of the plate, he goes up, he can go down and he's a guy that we expect him to keep getting better. He's been good for us."

Here are more notes from Saturday night's Rays-Red Sox game:

-- Crawford's 33 starts ties an MLB lead this season, making him the first Red Sox to do so since teammate Nick Pivetta logged 33 starts in 2022.

-- Boston's offense has hit .249, averaging 4.9 runs with 221 extra-base hits and a 25.4 strikeout percentage in 65 games since coming out of the All-Star break in July.

-- The Red Sox, with a chance to finish the year at .500, never escaped their season-long struggles playing at Fenway Park. Boston dropped to 37-43 at home with a minus-33 run differential, 4.20 ERA, 69 errors and 17 blown saves.

-- Boston dropped to 24-27 when facing teams within its division.

-- The Red Sox and Rays will meet to play their regular-season finale on Sunday afternoon. First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus a full hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.