ST. LOUIS — Garrett Crochet took Lars Nootbaar’s liner with a 91 mph exit velocity off his left ankle in the third inning Sunday at Busch Stadium.
“It felt pretty brutal,” the Chicago White Sox starter said.
After a visit from the training staff, Crochet threw a few warmup pitches.
“In my mind when I was doing the warmup pitches I was like, ‘I’m just buying time for someone in the bullpen to get hot,’” Crochet said. “But I was able to find my footing there after a couple of throws, felt like I had some stability.”
Crochet remained in the game, finishing with six strong innings in a 5-1 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals in front of 43,046.
“At first, it sounded so strong, I thought it hit meat,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “He’s a big dude and he’s strong. It sounded like it hit him in the thigh or something. But then when we got out there — it hit him in the ankle — when I put together where it hit him and the way it sounded, I thought we might be in a little bit of trouble there.
“But to his credit, he took his time and threw his three or four warmup pitches. Most of the guys throw one. He threw three or four and that means he was feeling it a little bit. He got that last out (of the third inning), came in, taped it up and let’s roll. It was a gutty, gutty performance by him.”
Crochet allowed one run on three hits with six strikeouts and no walks as the Sox won two of three against the Cardinals.
“After the warmup pitches and I got some blood flowing, I felt like I was dialed right back in,” Crochet said. “I felt I was competing in the zone with my heater. Was getting it away, was getting it up and in. I felt that was helping them not sit on one pitch in one spot.”
Crochet said after the game that the ankle felt good and the opportunity to rebound from the liner to provide length for the Sox on Sunday was “very meaningful.”
“That was part of the ankle dilemma as well,” Crochet said. “I can’t come out of this game. They’re going to have to tell me that it looks like crap for me to come out of the game.”
The Sox put Crochet (2-4) in position to earn the win with four runs in the seventh.
Eloy Jiménez led off the inning with his fourth home run of the season, giving the Sox a 2-1 lead. Paul DeJong had an RBI double and scored on a single by Braden Shewmake. Robbie Grossman brought home Bryan Ramos with a sacrifice fly to center.
It was a memorable day for Ramos, who made an impact in the first start of his major league career. The third baseman, who is ranked the No. 4 prospect in the Sox organization by MLB.com, went 1-for-3 with one RBI and one run.
“I feel like there’s nothing better than this,” Ramos said. “I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a kid playing baseball in Cuba and then was trying to sign in the Dominican. Since then that was my dream, to get to the big leagues and get a hit and all this, it’s like, I’m way too happy right now.”
The Sox called Ramos up from Double-A Birmingham on Saturday. He entered Saturday’s 6-5 10-inning rain-soaked win as a defensive replacement in the ninth.
“Today was more tranquilo but yesterday was my first game and I just came to play defense and man, this place is loud when they go crazy,” Ramos said. “But I said to myself, we’re here so we’ve got to play. I tried to stay as calm as I can.”
Ramos didn’t bat in Saturday’s game. Sunday, he collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly in his first plate appearance in the second. And he had his first big-league hit with a single to center in the seventh.
“My first at-bat, I was just thinking that I wanted to get a ball in the air so the run can score,” Ramos said. “On the base hit, I had already got two ABs down and it was kind of the same situation. I say I’m going to try to hit the ball the other way because I want the runner (on second) to move and I get a base hit, perfect.”
Ramos’ performance on Sunday helped the 8-26 Sox to their second series victory of the season.
“Last week we had the Tommy Pham effect,” Crochet said, referring to the outfielder joining the team ahead of a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays. “Right now we have the Bryan Ramos effect. So let’s keep it rolling.”
