The Red Sox continue to get quality pitching from Cooper Criswell as Boston improved to 5-0 when he takes the mound as the starter.
Criswell gave up two runs on three hits with nine strikeouts in Boston’s 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals at Fenway Park on Saturday. The right-hander threw 65.8% of his pitches for strikes (52-of-79 pitches) and retired the side in order in the first and fourth innings.
“I’m just thankful for the opportunities,” Criswell told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Like I said in the past, anytime you get the ball you just want to go out there and give the team the best chance to win.”
With the score tied 2-2 when he left the game, Criswell didn’t earn the win, but the bullpen of Brennan Bernardino, Justin Slaten and Chris Martin locked down the victory.
The trio of relief pitchers allowed just one hit and Kenley Jansen retired the side in order with two strikeouts in the ninth inning for his sixth save of the season.
“(Criswell) gave us the chance to win,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He’s been doing that the whole time. He’s a good pitcher, understands what he needs to do. … Overall, solid. That’s what we ask him for.”
Cora added: “At one point, looked like we were going to go more than five (innings), but five innings in his start, that’s good enough and the bullpen did an amazing job.”
Even though Boston is undefeated in Criswell’s five starts, the 27-year-old doesn’t put much stock into that stat.
“It’s a cool stat, but I feel like you don’t want to look to far into that,” Criswll said. “Anytime you get the ball, you just wanna go out there and give the team their best chance to win. Luckily in those five games, we’ve been able to do that.”
Here are more notes from Saturday’s Red Sox-Nationals game:
— Boston snapped its three-game losing streak and improved to 5-2 in the last seven games at Fenway Park. The Red Sox improved to 31-8 overall when wearing the yellow City Connect uniforms since the start of the 2023 season. They are 4-1 this season while wearing the uniforms.
— Rafael Devers hit a go-ahead two-run line drive double to left in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Red Sox the 4-2 lead.
— Jansen’s sixth save of the season moved him to fifth in MLB history with 426 career saves, one more than Craig Krimbel.
— The Red Sox continue their seven-game homestand with the series finale against the Nationals on Sunday. First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game on NESN, following an hour of pregame coverage.
