Garrett Crochet (shoulder) placed on injured list as Red Sox call up speedster to take roster spot

“We saw some pretty good development over the course of the past three days,” Crochet said. “The plan is just to continue to challenge it while also giving it time to recover.”

Crochet said that he did not feel any fatigue in his shoulder during a poor two-start stretch in which he allowed 16 runs (15 earned) in just 6 ⅔ combined innings against Minnesota (April 13) and Detroit (April 19). Instead, he blamed his spring training build-up for the issue, which popped up in the middle of his start against the Orioles.

“At the end of the day, I feel like it was something that was preventable,” he said. “During the build-up, I just lost strength and never really got it back.”

Crochet showed no signs of injury Saturday when he allowed three hits in six shutout innings in a 17-1 Red Sox win that turned out to be Alex Cora’s last game as the club’s manager. So far this season, Crochet has a 6.30 ERA, with three poor starts and three good ones on his resumé.

Crochet joins Sonny Gray, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval and Johan Oviedo on the injured list for Boston. Bennett is expected to be the next man up, joining Payton Tolle as reinforcements in the rotation. Connelly Early (Saturday) and Ranger Suárez (Sunday) will start against Houston over the weekend. Gray, whose hamstring strain is minor, could return as early as Wednesday in Detroit and has progressed well enough to put that possibility in play.

On Wednesday, however, the Red Sox chose to call up Eaton to add an extra bench option for their series finale against the Blue Jays. Eaton is not in the lineup against lefty Eric Lauer and may be sent down Friday when the Red Sox add a pitcher (likely Bennett) to the roster.

In 27 games with Worcester this season, Eaton hit .292 with five doubles, three homers, six steals and an .831 OPS. The 29-year-old was one of the final cuts at the end of spring training after appearing in 41 regular season games for the Red Sox last season and starting two more in the postseason against the Yankees.

Eaton exclusively played outfield in spring training, a period that was interrupted by his time playing for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic. At Triple-A, Eaton has played at least 42 innings at all three outfield positions and a single inning at third base, largely for manager Chad Tracy, who took over for Cora on an interim basis this past weekend.

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