Crawford allowed three runs on five hits and one walk while striking out four over 3.2 innings during Sunday's spring start against Baltimore.
Crawford gave up his first spring runs in his third Grapefruit League start, and the right-hander appears to be ticketed for a rotation spot to the start the regular season. Boston has three projected starters at various stages of rehab, which puts Crawford in the mix for an April start or two, at least. Garrett Whitlock (hip), Brayan Bello (forearm) and James Paxton (hamstring) are candidates to open the season on the injured list. Crawford saw his first significant MLB action last year and had a 5.47 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 77:29 K:BB across 77.1 frames.