Red Sox 3, Brewers 2: Crochet and the bullpen combine to steady the ship

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - APRIL 07: Garrett Crochet #35 of the Boston Red Sox delivers a pitch during the second inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Fenway Park on April 07, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Paul Rutherford/Getty Images) | Getty Images For the third consecutive game, the Red Sox jumped out to at least a three run lead and then immediately began coughing it up. But this time, there were two key differences that allowed them to hang on and escape with a win.

First, Garrett Crochet started the game throwing up six scoreless frames, so when he ran into trouble in the seventh, he was much closer to the high leverage relievers who could milk the lead to the finish line. After the game, Crochet even talked about how part of his goal as a starter is always to go deeper than the other starter, and tonight he not only did that, but it was kind of the key to the whole affair as the bridge to Whitlock and Chapman was (just barely) short enough to complete without totally collapsing. I say this because the second key difference for the Sox tonight is they got some good bullpen work from an unexpected place.

That occurred when Zack Kelly came into a 3-1 game with the bases loaded and just one out and managed to get both guys he faced despite falling behind each of them 2-0. Here’s his final pitch to escape the mess with a groundout: View Link Now as some of you may be aware, I’m not the biggest Zack Kelly fan. He has excellent pure stuff, but the inconsistency from outing to outing and the tendency to melt down mentally when he faces adversity always leaves me on edge.

So as far as tonight is concerned, the good news is Zack Kelly got out of it. The bad news is that means we’re probably going to get a lot more of Zack Kelly in high leverage spots, and it’s only a matter of time before the baseball gods come to collect on that debt. Offensively, the Red Sox managed just three hits all game, but they also got three runs in a single inning when Jacob Misiorowski came unglued in the sixth and walked the bases loaded.