White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn remembers first meeting Garrett Crochet at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg, the training site for the Sox’ taxi squad in 2020.
“First pitch he threw in the bullpen was 102 mph, and everybody’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s going to the big leagues,’” Vaughn said. “Couple weeks later, he was up there. To see him doing this right now is awesome.”
After blowing two games against the Cubs earlier this week and dropping the opener of a four-game series against the Red Sox on Thursday, the Sox (16-48) stopped their ghastly 14-game losing streak with a 7-2 win Friday night.
Players were hooting and hollering afterward as loud music emanated from the clubhouse. The team needed to snap the skid, to stop it from hovering over them.
They needed Crochet.
Once again, the left-hander was a stabilizing force, allowing three hits and two runs (one earned) and striking out 10 over six innings to improve to 6-5.
“It all goes back to the conversation that we’ve talked about — I don’t know, a dozen times by now — that I had with [general manager Chris] Getz,” Crochet said. “I’ve always had a lot of self-belief. It was waiting for that opportunity and then taking advantage of it.”
Despite two lapses — a throwing error in the third that led to a run and then spiking the ball when the Sox were going to appeal that Red Sox leadoff man Jarren Duran didn’t touch first base — Crochet largely held the Red Sox’ offense in check.
Manager Pedro Grifol said both teams knew Duran didn’t touch first, so he instructed the Sox not to make a play on the runner or else the appeal was over and he couldn’t challenge. After Crochet’s errant throw, Vaughn retrieved the ball and touched first base to appeal, but Grifol didn’t see it. Grifol said he “didn’t challenge anything because I thought time had elapsed” and took blame for the gaffe. The two runs were the only ones the Red Sox scored.
Crochet continues to exceed expectations as a starter.
“[He] is developing into a big-time pitcher,” Grifol said. “These are the guys that stop streaks like this. The way he went out there and performed, what did he have — 10 strikeouts, six innings, three hits, two runs, one earned — he did an incredible job. In the fifth inning, he came to me and said, ‘Let me go.’ I was going to let him go for the sixth.”
Friday marked the fourth consecutive game in which Crochet threw at least six innings. He has allowed two runs at most per game in that stretch.
Credit his determination, mixed with electric stuff. His continued development is no doubt front-of-mind for the Sox.
“I already have so many expectations of myself,” Crochet said. “In a moment like this, I like to think that I thrive in it. That’s how I felt after the throwing error as well. I always, in my mind, considered myself somebody that responds well to adversity.”
The Sox as a whole finally found the elusive complete performance they’d been searching for. With the team trailing by a run in the fourth, Paul DeJong singled to left to bring home the tying run after a throwing error by Duran. Right fielder Oscar Colas then singled to bring home DeJong and Vaughn to make it 4-2, and the Sox never looked back.
Gavin Sheets and Vaughn added back-to-back homers in the sixth, and DeJong came through again with an RBI double to score Sheets in the eighth.
Luis Robert Jr. homered in the first — his second long ball in the four games since he returned from a strained right hip flexor.
