Garrett Crochet made his pitch this offseason for joining the Chicago White Sox starting rotation.
He then put in the work.
All that was on display opening day Thursday against the Detroit Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field. Crochet shined, but the Sox couldn’t get anything going offensively in a 1-0 loss in front of 33,420.
The Sox were limited to three hits, all singles.
But Crochet was poised and in command in his first major-league start, allowing one run on five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in six innings.
“It took me a couple of innings to get my feet underneath me and really catch my breath,” Crochet said. “The first inning, obviously a lot of emotions flowing. I don’t think it could have gone better than that.
“I’ve been in the big moment before, obviously nothing as great as this. But it was nice to just give my team a fighting chance. I felt like as long as I was doing that, I was able to keep my emotions under control.”
Crochet struck out the first batter of the game, Andy Ibáñez. He finished his outing by striking out Matt Vierling looking to end the sixth inning.
Photos: Opening day for Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field
Crochet received high fives from his teammates as he made his way through the Sox dugout after the top of the sixth. He had at least one strikeout in each of his six innings, including two in the first and fourth.
“He has electric stuff,” catcher Martín Maldonado said. “He was attacking the hitter with his fastball and the slider for a strike when he needed it. He was pumping strikes and gave us a chance to win.”
Each of Crochet’s previous 72 major-league appearances was in relief. He topped career bests for innings pitched and strikeouts in a game on Thursday, while not walking a batter.
He also threw a career-high 87 pitches (61 strikes).
“That’s why he was (starting) opening day, that’s what we saw in spring training,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “He was solid the whole spring. This outing doesn’t shock me. It doesn’t surprise me.
“When you have a player, a pitcher with that type of stuff that has that will and that drive to prove he can do something, it just doesn’t surprise me.”
Crochet’s road to Thursday began in 2020 when the Sox selected him in the first round of the truncated MLB draft. He joined the big-league team down the stretch of the pandemic-shortened season and remained a fixture in the bullpen in 2021.
Crochet missed 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and was limited to 13 outings last season, dealing at times with left shoulder inflammation.
He had conversations with general manager Chris Getz during the offseason and expressed interest in starting.
“It was a really healthy dialogue,” Getz said Wednesday. “I asked him, ‘At this stage of your career, which direction do you want to go?’ And it was very clear that he wanted to see if he could be a starter.”
He had a 2.13 ERA and 14 strikeouts in his five spring outings (two starts). The opening-day role became available after the Sox traded ace Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres.
“It’s a different ballgame,” Crochet said of going from spring training to the regular season. “I feel like I was able to carry my confidence over and then just pounding the strike zone, really.”
Crochet was sharp from the beginning Thursday, striking out two during a 1-2-3 first inning.
“Pretty much every emotion you could think of I was feeling,” Crochet said. “I feel like I was really able to get those under control. Once I set foot on the rubber, things kind of just washed away and it was just me and the catcher. Me and Maldy.”
His second inning started with another strikeout.
The only run he allowed came in the third. Javier Báez singled, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Andy Ibáñez.
All five hits Crochet allowed were singles. His most satisfying part of the day was, “just going back out there.”
“Getting to sit down on the bench and knowing that I had the chance to go back out and keep doing my thing,” Crochet said.
Tigers starter Tarik Skubal also did his thing. The left-hander surrendered just three hits — singles by Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Vaughn and Eloy Jiménez — in his six innings. Skubal had six strikeouts and no walks.
“He’s an opening-day starter for a reason,” Vaughn said of Skubal. “You think about it, there’s 30 guys going, 30 of the best. He has good stuff, challenged us and got the better of us.”
Robert reached on an infield single in the first. Vaughn singled to center to begin the second while Jiménez singled to left in the fourth. That was the last base runner for the Sox, as Skubal and three relievers retired the final 17 batters.
It was the 11th shutout on opening day in franchise history for the Tigers and their first since March 28, 2019, at Toronto.
The Sox got the pitching they wanted as Crochet and three relievers combined for 11 strikeouts and just one walk while surrendering six hits.
But offensively the Sox struck out 11 times and didn’t collect a walk on the way to being blanked on opening day for the 12th time in franchise history and first since a 3-0 loss at Kansas City in 2003.
“Pitchers did a phenomenal job and we played really good defense,” Vaughn said. “The bats just didn’t get going today.”
