The rain sneaked up on the White Sox and Garrett Crochet on Tuesday night.
Four pitches into their scheduled game against the Rangers, a dark, ominous sky that crept over Guaranteed Rate Field minutes before the 7:10 p.m. start produced a downpour, sending fans to the concourses and prompting umpires to bring out the tarp.
The game was suspended at 8:40 p.m. and will be resumed at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday as part of a straight doubleheader.
It was just another thing gone wrong or wonky for the Sox, who are 31-101 and have lost four consecutive games to fall a franchise-record 70 games below .500, the second team in history to lose 101-plus games over the first 132 games, along with the 1916 Philadelphia A’s (30-101-1).
Head groundskeeper Roger Bossard had informed both teams that rain wasn’t expected till 8 p.m., which would have been enough for Crochet, who hasn’t pitched more than four innings in July and August, to get in four innings.
Marcus Semien will bat with a 2-2 count when the game resumes, with Chris Flexen taking over for Crochet to oppose Rangers lefty Andrew Heaney. Jack Leiter is expected to start for the Rangers in Game 2, which will be a bullpen game for the Sox.
Crochet watch
Just how many more starts Crochet has left is also unknown.
“Garrett is a competitor, and he wants to be out there,” senior advisor to pitching Brian Bannister said Tuesday.
On Monday, interim manager Grady Sizemore said a shutdown “could be around the corner,” but on Tuesday, Bannister said, “I think he’s going to continue to pitch even though it’s in an abbreviated sense right now.”
Crochet is 6-9 record with a 3.64 ERA and career highs in starts (26), innings (128 2/3) and 12.59 strikeouts per nine innings.
Brebbia DFA’d, Amaya activated
Right-hander John Brebbia was designated for assignment and righty Prelander Berroa was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take his spot in the bullpen.
The Sox also optioned infielder Bryan Ramos to Charlotte after he was with the team for one day and added Jacob Amaya, who was not in the lineup, to the active roster.
Amaya was claimed off waivers from the Astros on Monday.
Brebbia, 34, is 0-6 with a 6.29 ERA over a team-leading 54 appearances this season, his first with the Sox after signing a $5.5
million deal as a free agent on Jan. 26.
The Sox’ bullpen leads the majors in blown saves (31), walks (263) and a club-record 42 losses. Its 5.10 ERA is the second worst in the majors.
Berroa, 24, is 3-5 with a 6.41 ERA in 43 relief appearances with Charlotte. He has pitched in three games in two stints with the Sox in 2024, allowing three runs in two innings.
The Sox’ 40-man roster is at 39.
Moncada update
Yoan Moncada doubled and drove in a run in his first rehab assignment game at Charlotte, and Michael Soroka pitched one scoreless inning of relief.
“It’s going to take a lot of people probably to determine what he needs,” Sizemore said when asked to speculate on when Moncada, who has been out since April with an adductor strain, would return. “Ultimately, it’s going to come down to him staying healthy.”