MIAMI -- Garrett Crochet’s stuff was as good as always during the White Sox 4-3 loss to the Marlins Saturday evening at loanDepot park.

According to Statcast, the White Sox ace actually was playing up and beyond the bulk of his highly impressive work from an initial foray as a starter during the first half of the 2024 campaign.

Crochet’s four-seam fastball increased 1.4 mph on average, from 96.9 mph to 98.3, and topped out at 99.6. His cutter was up 0.2 mph, again per Statcast, and all four of his pitches showed increased spin.

So, how were the Marlins (31-58) able to knock out the near-certain All-Star after four innings? They had a great approach at the plate, fouling off 28 pitches, which is a season-high against Crochet, and elevating his pitch count to 93.

“I don’t really have an answer,” Crochet said. “Clearly they had a good plan going into the game. Clearly they executed it well. I didn’t feel like I threw too many pitches over the heart but when I did, they resulted in base hits. The thing I’m most upset about is probably the three walks. Only one of them scored but a lot of unnecessary traffic I caused to myself.”

“They make a lot of contact, especially against lefties,” White Sox catcher Korey Lee said. “Whether it’s hard or weak contact, they get the pitch count up and that was the story today. He put us in a really good position to win a game and sometimes you have to tip your cap.”

Jake Burger and Dane Myers touched up Crochet for two-out singles in the first, but the Marlins didn’t score. Crochet cruised through the second, with the White Sox (26-65) staking him to a 3-0 lead, before allowing a run in the third when a Bryan De La Cruz walk and a Myers single followed Vidal Bruján being hit by a pitch.

Entering the fourth at 48 pitches, Crochet was forced to throw 45 despite only allowing one run. The Marlins had 17 foul balls in the frame, with six coming in a 10-pitch at-bat against Burger that resulted in an inning-ending pop up with the bases loaded.

“Early on, it wasn’t that great. He was throwing 97-98 mph at the top of the zone, doing what we thought he was going to do and we just couldn’t catch up,” said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker of Crochet. “Later in the game, we brought it down, took some really good at-bats, laid off the cutter and slider, which was the key to that.

“We had some good at-bats down in the lineup with Myers. It was 40-plus pitches in the fourth, which was really good to get to their bullpen.’’

It only took one Myers swing against reliever Michael Soroka (0-9) in his third inning of relief to turn the game toward Miami. His Statcast-projected 420-foot home run brought in Burger, who started the inning with a walk, and ultimately made the White Sox wait until Sunday in an attempt to end their nine series road losing streak.

“Our offense did a good job early, we got ahead,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “And then we just couldn’t capitalize on anything after that. Winnable game, but we lost it.”

Numerous Major League scouts were in the stands to watch Saturday’s contest between two teams who won’t see anywhere near .500 this season but have many tradeable components. Marlins closer Tanner Scott (13th save) was one of them, and Crochet could be another if any team could meet an understandably lofty White Sox ask.

Let’s focus more on what Crochet has done during this spectacular season, as opposed to whether he might leave the White Sox. His five strikeouts Saturday give him a Major League-best 146 and put him third in White Sox history for most first-half strikeouts, trailing Chris Sale (157 in 2015) and Dylan Cease (150 in ‘22).

On Sunday, Crochet should be named an American League All-Star for the first time with his 105 1/3 innings representing 78 innings more than he had put together previously combined in his career.

“His consistency of coming in every day being our ace and being healthy,” said Lee of what has impressed him about Crochet. “It’s really impressive to see the willingness of him to get better every day.”