Lefty Garrett Crochet’s much-anticipated Fenway Park debut took a historic turn — but not in the way he or the Red Sox imagined. At first pitch, the temperature was just 35 degrees, making it the third-coldest game opener ever recorded at Fenway by Baseball Reference. It only got colder as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated Boston 6-1 in two hours and 46 minutes.

“It definitely felt like that,” said manager Alex Cora about the freezing weather.

Crochet pitched for 5.2 innings, giving up four runs — though just one was earned — on five hits, four walks, and five strikeouts. He threw 107 pitches, 65 of them strikes, and generated 11 whiffs.

“He actually pitched well,” Cora noted. “In tough conditions, Springer hits a homer, we mess up some plays, and that was that. But Garrett did more than enough.”

Crochet, however, had a harsher review of his own performance: “Terrible.”

“This season, I haven’t really had a start where I’ve felt in control,” he said. “I hope it’s part of a buildup and better starts are ahead, but my cutter and four-seam haven’t hit glove-side well, and I’ve been overcorrecting with the two-seam, pulling it too much.”

“My fastball control just hasn’t been there,” he added. “And the four walks tonight — that’s rough.”

Despite the cold, Crochet showed flashes of sharpness, retiring the side in order in both the second and fourth innings. He struck out batters looking to end three of the first four frames and occasionally took a more cautious approach.

“When I’m behind in the count with runners on, sometimes I have to just try to get ahead,” he said. “It’s more of a passive mindset than I prefer, but tonight, it was all about grinding through.”

The deadlock broke in the sixth inning when the Blue Jays capitalized on defensive miscues. The lineup batted around in a four-run inning against Crochet and reliever Zack Kelly. Springer’s solo shot opened the scoring, but a pair of two-out errors allowed Toronto to pile on.

Schneider reached after Bregman’s throw went awry, then Crochet walked Straw, putting two on base. Heineman followed with an RBI single, and Campbell’s wild throw to first allowed more chaos.

“He’s our guy, and we gave him an extra day,” said Cora of sticking with Crochet as he neared 100 pitches. “He was in a good spot to handle that part of their lineup. We just failed on a couple plays.”

“Bregman made a routine mistake, and Campbell tried to do too much,” Cora said.

After Crochet walked Roden, Cora turned to Kelly, who surrendered a two-run single to Bichette before escaping the inning. Kelly and Winckowski pitched the rest, with two more runs scoring in the eighth, both charged to Kelly.

On the other side, Easton Lucas turned in a career-best performance for Toronto, pitching 5.1 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. He gave up only three hits and one walk, threw 82 pitches (57 strikes), and got 12 swinging strikes. The Red Sox offense, stifled by the wind and cold, went down 1-2-3 in three of the first five frames.

Aside from an RBI single in the seventh, Boston’s offense didn’t show much. After posting 44 runs across their previous four games, they’ve only scored three across the first two matchups in this series. They managed eight hits to Toronto’s nine but only one extra-base hit — a double by Gonzalez — and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, stranding seven.

Boston opened the bottom of the ninth with two singles, but a comebacker by Gonzalez turned into a double play, and Sabol struck out looking, ending the rally.

Asked about pitching in those temperatures, Cora responded, “It’s really tough.”

“I went out twice and could feel it — the wind, too,” he said. “But like I always say: in April, we complain; in October, we don’t. This is just part of it. We had to play, and now we’ve got another game tomorrow.”

The Red Sox have now dropped two straight after winning five in a row. This five-run loss is their largest margin of defeat so far this season.

With the Yankees also losing, the Blue Jays now stand alone at the top of the American League East.

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