When the Boston Red Sox traded for Garrett Crochet this past offseason, they did so with days like Sunday in mind.

Having lost five of six and looking to avoid an embarrassing three-game sweep to one of the worst teams in baseball, the Red Sox handed the ball to their ace and Crochet delivered. Facing his former team for the first time since the December trade, Crochet carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and struck out 11 to help beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1.

In an ironic twist, the no-hitter was broken up by Chase Meidroth, one of the four prospects the Red Sox sent to Chicago to land Crochet. Meidroth hit a single with one out in the eighth to end Crochet’s bid to become the first Red Sox pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Jon Lester on May 19, 2008.

Crochet also outdueled Shane Smith, who pitched brilliantly in his first start against the Red Sox.

“That’s what he’s here for,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters afterwards. “It happened early in the season, we had a long losing streak and he pitched a great game and we played better after that. Today was a big day for us to get a W and move on, and he was really good.”

Coming into Sunday the story for Boston had been the club’s anemic offense. The Red Sox had scored just 11 runs in their past six games, and entering the day the club was tied for 22nd in MLB with only 11 home runs on the season, and none since the second game of last Sunday’s doubleheader against the Cardinals.

The Red Sox ranked second in doubles (32) and second in stolen bases (23), so getting runners into scoring position hasn’t been an issue. Boston has actually had the second most plate appearances with runners in scoring position of any team in MLB (206), and yet they ranked 23rd in batting average (.230) and 18th in OPS (.687) entering Sunday.

Needless to say, if you aren’t hitting home runs, and you aren’t driving runners in, you aren’t going to score a lot of runs.

Sunday didn’t represent much of an improvement for Boston, but Trevor Story was able to deliver on both fronts.

The team’s only offense early came in the top of the sixth, when Alex Bregman singled, Wilyer Abreu walked and then Story drove in both with a two-run double to right field.

That was the only scoring opportunity the Red Sox got all day against Smith, who allowed five hits and two walks over six innings while striking out three. The Red Sox never had another runner advance past first while the 25-year-old was on the mound.

Crochet did his best to ensure it didn’t matter.

The left-hander was perfect through the first five innings, and the only baserunner he allowed was a leadoff walk to Brooks Baldwin in the bottom of the sixth. He had four straight strikeouts from the sixth into the seventh inning and ultimately came out after allowing the Meidroth single after throwing 96 pitches, including 65 strikes and 17 whiffs.

Cora joked afterwards that given how many pitches Crochet has thrown in his last two outings, he’d never been so happy to see an opposing batter get a hit. He said there was a lot of debate about how deep they’d let Crochet pitch into the game if he had a no-hitter intact, and that they needed to balance letting him chase history with keeping him healthy for the season.

Crochet said afterwards that he’d been told he was coming out as soon as he gave up the first hit, but that he felt he could have kept going if necessary.

“I feel like I could have thrown five more innings,” Crochet said. “I was feeling really good.”

Once he came out, things started getting uncomfortable.

Garrett Whitlock came on and allowed back-to-back singles, including an RBI knock by Matt Thaiss to score Meidroth and make it a 2-1 game. Thaiss’ hit came immediately after Whitlock had what should have been a clear strike three called a ball, and the single led to the White Sox getting runners on second and third with only one out.

Fortunately, Whitlock was able to work his way out of the jam without further incident, striking out Joshua Palacios and drawing a Miguel Vargas fly out to end the threat. Then in the top of the ninth Story hit a solo home run, Boston’s first home run in a week, to give the Red Sox a little extra breathing room. Story finished 3 for 4 with the homer and three RBI.

Aroldis Chapman closed the door with a scoreless ninth inning to clinch the win, blowing away Michael A. Taylor with a 101 mph fastball to lock down his third save of the season.

Crochet was ultimately charged with one run over 7 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out 11. The last Red Sox starting pitcher to carry a no-hitter 7 1/3 innings or more was Eduardo Rodriguez on Sept. 4, 2016, per the team. According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, he also tied the third longest no-hit bid since 1961 by a pitcher in his first appearance versus a former team.

Overall, Crochet now has a 1.38 ERA and 28 strikeouts over 26 innings through his first four starts in a Red Sox uniform.

His next outing will be Friday or Saturday at Fenway Park when he faces his former team again. In the meantime the Red Sox (8-9) will head to Steinbrenner Field in Tampa to begin a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Hendriks pitches again

Red Sox right-hander Liam Hendriks (right elbow inflammation) made his second rehab appearance for the Worcester Red Sox on Sunday, throwing a scoreless inning with one walk, one strikeout and no hits in the WooSox’s eventual 8-5 win over Columbus. Hendriks made his first rehab start on Thursday and threw a scoreless frame with three strikeouts. Barring any setbacks he could potentially make his return to the big league bullpen in the coming days.

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