Garrett Crochet was giving the Red Sox an ace-like performance against the Mets on Wednesday, until he got an early hook from manager Alex Cora.

That even includes Garrett Crochet. While the left-handed starter has been excellent, carrying this Red Sox rotation with a 2.00 ERA and an outstanding 73 strikeouts in 63.0 innings, skipper Alex Cora challenged him to be better. He added that everybody in the rotation needs to improve, and when they do, the Red Sox will be a much better team.

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora surprised a lot of people, Garrett Crochet included, when he came to the mound in the top of the sixth inning to pull his ace on Wednesday night. Crochet was at 85 pitches through 5 1/3 innings,