Garrett Crochet had the worst start of his career at Target Field on Monday, allowing 11 runs, 10 earned, on nine hits and three walks in Boston's 13-6 loss to the Minnesota Twins. He lasted 1 2/3 innings, threw 55 pitches and did not strike anyone out, with two of his mistakes leaving the yard.
The collapse came only days after Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez were also knocked around at the same park during the Twins' four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers. In the span of a week, Crochet, Skubal and Valdez combined for 11 innings pitched, 28 hits, seven walks and 22 earned runs at Target Field, an 18.00 ERA stretch that is hard to ignore when three of the game's most accomplished left-handers are involved.
Skubal, the two-time defending AL Cy Young winner, allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings last Tuesday. Valdez followed the next day with eight runs on 10 hits and two walks in five innings. Crochet entered Monday as the reigning AL Cy Young runner-up, and all three pitchers are two-time All-Stars who rank among the best arms in baseball.
That makes the run of results in Minneapolis either a strange coincidence or a sign that Minnesota has seen left-handers particularly well at Target Field. For the Twins, the bigger point is simpler: they just spent a week turning elite pitching into damage, and the next test in the AL Central race is already in view.
