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Rotation shuffle continues for Chicago White Sox, but a big 2nd inning spoils Nick Nastrini’s return in 9-2 loss

lamond pope, chicago tribune
·4 min read

TORONTO — Manager Pedro Grifol looked at the Chicago White Sox rotation slot that opened Monday as an “opportunity time” for pitchers and the organization.

“This is an opportunity for you to pitch your ass off, get a chance,” Grifol said Monday — the day the Sox designated Brad Keller for assignment to create the opening. “I always tell our guys, opportunity meets preparation at some point. Prepare yourself for when you get that opportunity.

“It might be once. One inning or two, but that one inning can get you a second inning. One start might get you a second start and get you a third. A lot of great careers have started off with that one inning.”

The opportunity came for Nick Nastrini on Wednesday, as he was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to start the series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

The right-hander went 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA and eight strikeouts in two starts earlier this season with the Sox.

He did not receive a warm welcome from the Blue Jays in his return. Nastrini allowed nine runs (eight earned) on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings in a 9-2 loss in front of 28,670.

“Definitely not the way you map that one out,” Nastrini said. “I wasn’t really getting ahead with my fastball, and being in the zone with my offspeed. When you rely on that and they pick up on that they’re going to get timely hits. That’s what happened.”

The Blue Jays scored seven runs — all with two outs — in the second inning. Grifol said Nastrini often got ahead in the count, but didn’t put batters away.

“I did a good job getting to 1-2, didn’t execute,” Nastrini said. “Looking at it on film, good pitches, were in the zone but it wasn’t good enough. That’s the whole day, wasn’t good enough.”

Nastrini walked six in the 86-pitch effort. The Sox lost two of three in the series and went 1-5 on their trip. At 15-35, the Sox are off to their worst 50-game start in franchise history.

“What I told him is, he’s going to face these guys in five days,” Grifol said. “That’s the schedule right now. So he’s got four days to make all the necessary adjustments.”

Nastrini stepped into a rotation that had seen some shuffling recently.

Keller had moved into the slot previously held by Michael Soroka, who the Sox shifted to the bullpen. Soroka was solid in his first relief outing Saturday against the New York Yankees, allowing two hits and striking out a season-high seven in four scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium.

Grifol said Soroka remains a reliever in part because the Sox want to give pitchers like Nastrini some experience.

“(Also), Soroka did a really good job out of the bullpen the other day and putting him back in the rotation is not something we want to entertain right now,” Grifol said. “We want him to work out of the ’pen, come in and feel that ability to air it out and see how far you can go.”

Two pitchers — Garrett Crochet and Erick Fedde — have made double-digit starts for the Sox this season. Crochet dazzled in his team-leading 11th start Tuesday, allowing two hits in six innings in a 5-0 victory. Fedde, who has 10 starts, has been consistent.

“Fedde and Crochet, those guys have been workhorses for us,” Grifol said. “It’s tough with Crochet, because this is his first time starting (after three seasons as a reliever). But they’ve been workhorses and they give us the innings when we need them.”

In terms of number of starts, Soroka is next on the list with nine. Chris Flexen, who had a brief stint in the bullpen before moving back into the rotation, has made eight starts.

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Mike Clevinger was originally in line for his fourth start of the season Wednesday but got bumped to Thursday’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Noting that Clevinger — who finalized a one-year deal in early April — didn’t have a traditional spring training, Grifol said, “Any time you can give him an extra day or two so he can get that work capacity up, it would be good for him.”

Jonathan Cannon (three), Keller and Nastrini (two each) round out the pitchers with more than one start for the Sox this season. Tanner Banks served as an opener on April 8 at Cleveland.

The 24-year-old Nastrini got the chance to continue his path Wednesday. And he said he took a lot away from the outing.

“You have five days to prepare, have to have a short memory, have a little amnesia, try to get to the next one, dial in to the next ’pen in the next week and really get after these guys.”