Crawford will get the start for Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Pirates, Mac Cerullo of The North Andover Eagle-Tribune reports.
Crawford will get the start, and Josh Winckowski will be the first arm out of the bullpen for the spring contest. Both hurlers are competing for the final spot the Red Sox rotation, and Crawford has made a strong case by generating a 2.03 ERA, 14:3 K:BB and 0.97 WHIP over 13 innings in Grapefruit League play. Whoever performs better during Thursday's game could ultimately be declared the winner of the job battle.