You can look at Garrett Crochet’s nine starts this season as an Oreo — if you’re in the habit of throwing away the mystery creme in the middle and just eating the cookies.
The southpaw spun a masterful Opening Day start every bit as special as Mark Buehrle or Chris Sale, chased that with another couple of gems to keep his ERA at 2.00 ... and then chaos ensued.
Three straight outings of at least five earned. There were still strikeouts, but any pitch close to zoned was getting clubbed, more than tripling the phenom’s ERA. Smack in the middle was a three-homer clubbing in Philadelphia, and after another short start and loss, a fourth straight for the starter, there were whispers of a return to the pen and an even louder drumbeat of “load management.