Victor Caratini began the third inning for the Houston Astros with a single between shortstop and third, just out of the reach of diving Chicago White Sox third baseman Lenyn Sosa.
Chas McCormick followed with a double that sneaked past a diving Sosa down the third-base line.
It was one of those nights in which the Astros found some holes against the Sox.
Still, starter Garrett Crochet did his best to minimize the damage. The left-hander got out of that jam allowing only one run.
Crochet gave up three runs in six innings Wednesday in a 4-1 loss to the Astros in front of 14,124 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“They executed their plan,” Crochet said. “Credit to them for that. I wasn’t willing to deviate from mine when I felt like I wasn’t getting beat. But they were able to score runs off of them, so credit to them.
“I wish I would have sprinkled (the slider and changeup) in a little bit earlier but it was kind of weak contact up until that point. It wasn’t something that I was willing to get burned on, throwing my first slider, my first changeup of the game. I’m going to keep pounding with my power stuff, and if they are going to keep getting broken-bat singles, credit to them.”
Crochet allowed nine hits, struck out eight and walked one in the 85-pitch outing.
“I think we’re all getting pretty spoiled with him, looking at a six-inning, three-run outing like untypical of his outings,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “It’s a really good outing. They had a good plan, they were attacking early, he made pitches (and) minimized damage.”
The lone Sox run came in the fourth on an Andrew Benintendi homer.
Photos: Houston Astros 4, Chicago White Sox 1
Astros starter Hunter Brown made the big pitches when he had to, like in the fifth. The Sox trailed 2-1 but had runners on first and third with one out after singles by Korey Lee and Tommy Pham. Gavin Sheets hit a grounder to first, which turned into a 3-6-3 inning-ending double play.
“He was commanding the zone, throwing pitches that he needed to, executing when he needed to, had a good curveball, had a good slider today,” Lee said of Brown. “That’s a lot of power coming behind it. He has that sinker now also that kind of keeps you on your toes.”
Brown allowed one run on seven hits in six innings. He received more run support in the sixth when César Salazar extended the Astros’ lead with an RBI single. Salazar had two hits and two RBIs.
Meanwhile, the Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and fell to 20-55, the worst 75-game start in franchise history (previously 25-50 by the 1929, 1934, 1948 and 2018 clubs).
Despite the loss, Grifol continues to see Crochet’s growth during his first season as a major-league starter.
“That’s a big-time skill for a starter — to be able to minimize damage and to understand that your job is to go deep in games,” Grifol said. “I think he’s done a great job of that this year. It’s one of those things where it’s really not surprising to me because he’s a really smart kid, but how fast he’s picked up the starting game is pretty remarkable.
“He understands starters, their job is to go deep in games and he understands how to do it. And he understands how to economize pitches and how to minimize damage. To me, that’s remarkable considering the lack of experience he has as a starter. So what he’s doing this year is spectacular in my eyes. And today he had a quality start, gave us a chance to win.”
LaMond Pope , 2024-06-20 06:09:56
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