Fenway Park held its breath during Sunday’s game. The Boston Red Sox needed their ace to step up in an important rubber game against the Minnesota Twins. Instead, a scary situation unfolded on the mound early in the game. The Red Sox lefty was hit square in the face. The incident sparked immediate concern, but Garrett Crochet‘s response was a display of remarkable mental toughness, defining a tense afternoon on May 4.

The frightening sight came in the fourth inning. A Twins batter ripped a line drive right back up the middle. The ball hit Crochet, bouncing straight off his nose. Despite the vicious blow causing immediate bleeding, the ball caromed towards shortstop David Hamilton, who calmly fielded it and threw to first for the out.

Medical personnel rushed to Crochet on the mound, but in an unbelievable display of toughness, he stayed in. Crochet went on to pitch five solid innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits while striking out six batters, and helped the Red Sox maintain a 3-1 lead.

Crochet was on the mound Sunday, tasked with being the stopper for Boston. The Red Sox had dropped a tight 4-3 loss to Minnesota the day before. As Kody Clemens’s two-run homer helped the Twins win the series, making Crochet’s start crucial to avoid another series loss. He entered the game pitching like a true ace.

His last appearance on April 29 against the Toronto Blue Jays was an excellent one: seven innings, allowing just two runs for the win. His season ERA was still an impressive 2.02 with 56 strikeouts over 49.0 innings, illustrating just how valuable he was and making his gritty effort after the injury even more vital.

Echoes of danger: Crochet’s resilience and the lingering threat of line drives

This wasn’t the first time Crochet had stared down danger on the mound. His reputation for toughness was forged years earlier. Back in May 2019, during his sophomore year at the University of Tennessee, he took a line drive off the face, breaking his jaw. It kept him out for the SEC Tournament. But showing an incredible amount of toughness, Crochet returned on the mound two weeks later to pitch pivotal innings for the Volunteers in the NCAA Regionals, cementing his resilience at an early age.

Fast forward to May 5, 2024, just about a year before the Fenway episode. Pitching for the Chicago White Sox against St. Louis, another comebacker hit him, this one chasing him in the foot or ankle. Though trainers checked on him, Crochet merely walked off the pain for a few minutes. He stayed in the game, fielded the next ball hit at him cleanly, and continued to pitch effectively. Another demonstration of the “warrior” mentality fans have come to expect from the hard-throwing lefty.

While Crochet fortunately escaped the worst outcomes in these incidents, baseball history offers grim reminders of how devastating such plays can be. Cleveland Indians phenom Herb Score was a rising star in 1957. Then, a line drive off Gil McDougald‘s bat hit him in the eye, breaking his face. Score came back to the mound, but his pinpoint control and blazing velocity did not. The injury was essentially the end of what many thought was a path straight to the Hall of Fame.

Fenway Park itself witnessed a horrific incident in 2000. Red Sox reliever Bryce Florie took a Ryan Thompson line drive directly to his face. The blow resulted in multiple facial fractures along with extensive eye damage. Florie valiantly attempted a comeback in the following season. But he failed badly, perhaps partly due to the psychological trauma, and his Major League career ended soon after. These stories underscore the very real dangers pitchers face with every pitch.

It’s definitely important that Garrett Crochet didn’t get hurt on Sunday for the Boston Red Sox. With the team hanging around the .500 mark with an 18-17 record early in the 2025 season, their ace pitcher’s health is paramount. Now the question is: How vital is Garrett Crochet’s health to Boston’s chances this season?  And should MLB implement more protective gear for pitchers? Let us know in the comments below!