Garrett Crochet pitched seven innings of near shutout baseball. Aside from two fastballs that the Braves managed to get on top of and hit over the monster, he was nearly flawless. His velocity was up. His command was excellent. He probably didn’t execute with two strikes as well as he would’ve liked to, but he was fantastic nonetheless.
Starting pitching was an issue last season. Crochet was brought in to help turn that weakness into a strength, and has, to an extent. Normally, if your starting pitcher throws seven innings of two-run baseball, you’ve got a pretty good chance at winning the game.