Crochet shows top-of-the-rotation stuff in starting debut

CHICAGO -- The first career start for White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet couldn’t have gone any better than his six-inning effort during a 1-0 Opening Day loss to the Tigers on Thursday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.

In fact, the first game in this latest new era under senior vice president and general manager Chris Getz wasn’t exactly a wash either. Both teams played clean, with only one walk and one hit batsman issued between eight pitchers in total, and the Tigers hit a little more than the White Sox, who didn’t hit.

“We hit some balls hard and we didn’t catch a break,” catcher Martín Maldonado said. “But I think it is a good start. Even though we lost, there’s a lot of positives.”

“Great ballgame. Good pitching on both sides,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “We couldn’t get [anything] going offensively.”

Singles from Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Vaughn and Eloy Jiménez were the sum total for the White Sox, who didn’t get a single runner to second and had the last 17 batters retired. That dearth of offense, albeit against a good starter in Tarik Skubal, became even more troubling in support of Crochet’s mound dominance.

With Crochet having thrown 73 innings total over three previous seasons in the bullpen, the guess was he’d go about four or five innings in his Opening Day nod. But even with eight strikeouts, Crochet was efficient and needed just 87 pitches to get through six.

“I felt good. In my opinion, I was ready to go back out there for the seventh,” Crochet said. “At least go batter to batter or something like that.

“Having only gone four ups in Spring Training, that was the main thing that kind of gave us pause. To give my team a quality start in the first one, nothing better than that."

Detroit’s lone run was manufactured in the third, when Javier Báez singled to right on an 0-2 four-seam fastball at 97.2 mph catching too much of the zone, swiped second and moved to third on Parker Meadows’ groundout. Andy Ibáñez’s sacrifice fly scored Báez.

Crochet was able to throw his fastball on the inner half for strikes, topping out at 99.8 mph, according to Statcast. He also had a sharp slider, mixed in with a few changeups and cutters, which is a pitch developed in this move to the rotation.

“He's got a great arm obviously, great stuff, too,” Báez said. “He added a new pitch, a cutter, and he threw it to me twice. It had really good movement. Obviously, with my friend Maldonado behind the plate, a really good veteran who knows what he's doing, I think he's going to do good."

“Something to build on for sure,” Crochet added. “Nothing too drastically positive or negative in my opinion. Just a good start and I have got to keep working."

Grifol’s bullpen was equally as strong, with Deivi García and Dominic Leone throwing perfect innings, and Michael Kopech pitching out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the eighth by striking out Matt Vierling.

Kopech’s effort gave the White Sox momentum, but the offense couldn’t build on anything.

“Definitely feels like a punch in the gut,” Vaughn said. “[Crochet] went out there and threw the ball really well, all our pitchers did. They chucked it. They were around the zone, they battled. We just didn't string anything together.”

A crowd of 33,420 seemed to enjoy the pitching battle, getting vocally behind Crochet from his first two-strike count and eventual strikeout of Ibáñez in the first. Crochet had to battle every sort of emotion to settle down at the start and pitch in a role feeling comfortable, and like home for the 24-year-old.

Crochet’s effort didn’t surprise anyone. His continued excellence, if he bounces back as he did throughout Spring Training, won’t be a stunner to anyone either with start two coming on Tuesday against the Braves.

“Basically, he was evolving from a bullpen guy straight back into the starting role,” Vaughn said. “He took it with a full head of steam and he worked his butt off, especially coming back from what he came back from [left shoulder inflammation in 2023]. It's really special to see.”

“Next 72 hours, I'll probably be thinking about it,” Crochet said. “But that's part of it when you're a starter. It's something I'm going to have to try and let go. Definitely I have some things I'd like to build on, so definitely will re-watch some film and I'm going to try to improve."