One sign read “Nasty on the mound!” Another said, “Go Nick!”
Chicago White Sox starter Nick Nastrini had several supporters in attendance for his major-league debut Monday against the Kansas City Royals.
The right-hander displayed the composure of a veteran, not letting the magnitude of the moment get to him on the mound.
“The first couple of innings, it was an out-of-body experience,” Nastrini said. “It was everything I hoped it to be. It was fun. That’s all I can really say about it. I don’t really have a whole lot of words to describe it because there’s not really words I can use to describe it. That’s how fun it was. I had a great time out there.”
The No. 8 prospect in the organization according to MLB.com, Nastrini allowed two runs on three hits while striking out five and walking two in five innings.
But once again, the Sox couldn’t get anything going offensively. They were blanked for a major-league-leading sixth time this season, falling 2-0 in front of 10,569 at Guaranteed Rate Field. At 2-14, the Sox are off to their worst 16-game start in franchise history.
Nastrini and four relievers did all they could to keep the Sox in the game.
“I thought he was, as expected, under control, good presence, pounded the strike zone,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “Never really showed any panic in his presence, his body language.”
The Sox acquired Nastrini, along with reliever Jordan Leasure and outfielder Trayce Thompson, last season in the trade that sent pitchers Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Nastrini pitched well during spring training but was slowed toward the end of camp because of pneumonia. He made two starts with Triple-A Charlotte, where he has a 7.71 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 12 innings.
Nastrini found out that he was headed to Chicago on Sunday.
“I was supposed to pitch in Jacksonville and our manager in Triple A came and knocked on my hotel door at 9:15 and was like ‘You have 15 minutes to get downstairs. The clubbie’s taking you to the airport. You’re pitching in Chicago tomorrow,’” Nastrini said. “Just beelined downstairs to the valet area and the next thing I know, I’m here yesterday. It was a quick turnaround. I’ll say that.”
He was sharp from the beginning on Monday, retiring the first 11 batters. His first major-league strikeout came in the first inning, fanning Bobby Witt Jr.
“Getting the first strikeout on the right-on-right changeup was pretty cool,” Nastrini said. “It wasn’t exactly what I imagined it would be on, maybe like a fastball or something like that. But it was cool to get it on a right-on-right change.”
Nastrini struck out two in the second and two more in the fourth. The Royals got their first hit — and run — with two outs in the fourth on a solo home run to right by Vinnie Pasquantino.
Nastrini gave up another run an inning later on an RBI single by Kyle Isbel. Nastrini walked two in the inning but limited the damage by getting Witt to fly out to deep center with the bases loaded to end a threat.
“That means a lot to me to be able to stay in the game like that, especially with the bases loaded,” Nastrini said. “It could have gone south but they trusted me out there and that gave me a whole lot of confidence to make some pitches.”
That was the last batter of the day for Nastrini, who threw 74 pitches.
“Honestly I made a couple of mistakes,” he said. “I pulled a fastball in (against Pasquantino) and when you pull a fastball in to a good left-handed hitter like that, he’s going to do damage. But for the most part I thought I executed my game plan really well and I was able to use my fastball the way I wanted to and I was able to use my off-speed in counts I really liked to, so I think for the most part I felt pretty good.”
Leasure, who struck out one in a scoreless inning Monday, said he was texting their friends afterward that he felt like a proud big brother.
“I know that was special for him,” Leasure said. “It was really special for me to be able to be there with him. We’ve talked about this day for a long time and coming up together and getting to experience that together, that’s something I’ll always remember.”
Sox pitchers combined to hold the Royals to five hits. But the Sox only had four hits, all singles — two by Andrew Benintendi — while losing for the 10th time in 11 games.
While it didn’t lead to a win, the Sox got a glimpse of what Nastrini could bring to the staff.
“We’ll have a day off on Thursday and we’ll regroup and set it up the way we want to set it up moving forward,” Grifol said of the rotation. “We’ll see how it goes. But he was certainly impressive tonight.”
