Former Vols star Crochet throws gem as alma mater wins CWS title

CHICAGO -- The 30-minute rain delay during a 3-0 Dodgers victory over the White Sox Monday night at Guaranteed Rate Field came at a perfect time for starter Garrett Crochet to check in on his collegiate alma mater from Tennessee.

During that game stoppage, the Vols finished off Texas A&M in Omaha to claim the first College World Series title in program history. Crochet’s focus, first and foremost, falls upon the White Sox, who plummeted to 21-59.

But as a pitcher for the Vols from 2018-20, Crochet will always have a connection to Knoxville, Tenn.

“Yeah, definitely. The strength coach was actually at my wedding. I have a lot of ties there,” Crochet said. “Those were the first guys to give me a shot and put some belief in me and helped start building the foundation of confidence for me.

“I’ll always have a lot of respect and admiration for those guys. I’ll always cheer them on.”

Monday’s sudden but short-lived storm arrived when Crochet’s 17th start of the season was finished. Crochet worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out six without issuing a walk while dropping his ERA to 3.05.

Over his past 11 starts, covering 64 2/3 innings, Crochet has a 5-2 record with a 1.53 ERA, .179 average against and 90 strikeouts vs. 12 walks. Crochet opened the sixth by striking out Will Smith looking and getting Freddie Freeman on a groundout before manager Pedro Grifol pulled him at 91 pitches.

There was still more there for Crochet. But as his career-high innings total rose to 94 1/3 on the season, the White Sox are watching out for Crochet’s future as well as his present.

“I’ve used this word a ton, but it’s spectacular to me the things that he’s doing on the mound as a starter,” Grifol said. “We are going to control his workload. It’s not always going to be the most popular thing, but it’s the right thing for him and for us.”

“I knew going out there for the sixth inning that I was on a limited number of pitches,” Crochet said. “Just competitive fire, wanted to finish the inning, but I understand where he’s coming from. Just have to pay attention to the innings count. I get that.”

An electric feeling permeated through the 25,070 fans in attendance from the first pitch Monday, with Crochet firing a 97 mph four-seam fastball by a swinging Shohei Ohtani. Crochet struck out Ohtani on five pitches, one of his two strikeouts against the two-time Most Valuable Player. Ohtani is now 0-for-5 with four K's in his career against the White Sox lefty.

It was still scoreless when Crochet threw his last pitch of the night.

“He was very good. We knew what we were getting into. It's big stuff,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Crochet. “I thought we did a good job of trying to make him use the other side of the plate vs. right-handers.

“Tough to get runs. We had a couple small opportunities to get a two-out hit and couldn't muster a hit. But they're trying to protect him and keep him healthy. So for us to get him out in the middle of the sixth inning, we did a good job getting to the 'pen. But that's a tall order facing a guy like that.”

For most of June, Crochet has been working with an extra day by making starts on June 1 at Milwaukee, on June 7 vs. Boston, on June 13 at Seattle and on June 19 vs. Houston. He returned to regular rest with Monday’s start.

There continues to be nothing but good feelings for Crochet in his switch to a starter’s role, understanding this is now his professional life.

“That’s kind of how I’ve been feeling so far,” said Crochet, who mixed in four changeups and three sliders with his four-seam (55 pitches) and cutter (29). “I was able to get a couple of extra days my past three starts.

“Five days going into this one. It felt good to get back into the routine and not really having to wait so long to pick up the ball again, which is nice.”

It was also nice for Crochet’s Vols to take home the NCAA title on a night when he was on the mound.

“When I came in here, I checked my phone, saw they were able to finish it out, which was nice. Very cool,” Crochet said. “Very happy for [coach Tony] Vitello and the guys over there.”