Thorpe's photographer grandfather documents journey, 1st home win

CHICAGO -- Dave Showalter was more than a photographer simply snapping action shots during a 5-3 White Sox victory over the Rockies Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

He also is the proud grandfather of White Sox starter Drew Thorpe (2-1), who dominated Colorado over much of six innings during a second straight individual mound victory and a second straight victory overall for the team.

“The funny thing is Andrew is a very unique young man. He always has been very studious. Very focused, from the time he was little,” Showalter told MLB.com before Friday’s series opener. “He has worked so hard and has stayed so focused and I mean nobody, not his mother, not his grandmothers, nobody could be any more proud that he has done all of this.”

Thorpe allowed a leadoff single to Brenton Doyle in a game delayed at the start by two hours, nine minutes due to rain. The right-hander proceeded to retire the next 16 before walking Sam Hilliard with one out in the sixth. Doyle followed with a long home run to left, briefly damaging Thorpe’s body of work and giving the Rockies (27-54) a 2-1 lead.

That deficit disappeared quickly via a four-run sixth for the White Sox (23-61) off starter Dakota Hudson (2-11) and reliever Justin Lawrence. Luis Robert Jr. opened with a double, before Hudson walked Eloy Jiménez and Andrew Vaughn with nobody out. Paul DeJong’s single scored the tying run, and Tommy Pham’s two-out, two-run single followed Lawrence’s intentional walk to pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets to load the bases.

“Just grinding out at-bats. Taking what the pitcher gives you,” said Pham, who was teammates with Hudson in St. Louis in 2018. “Huddy fell behind, he was a little erratic. We were taking the free passes there, and then, the big hits [came]. You gotta take what the game gives you.”

But this night belonged to Thorpe, just as it did when he threw six scoreless innings at Detroit on June 22. Thorpe recorded 10 whiffs and 14 called strikes, according to Statcast, with eight of those whiffs coming off his changeup.

Manager Pedro Grifol considered bringing Thorpe back for the seventh at 59 strikes thrown among his 88 pitches. Instead, he opted for Tanner Banks and John Brebbia leading into Michael Kopech who picked up his second straight save and seventh of the season.

“I had a good game plan going in,” Thorpe said. “Me and [catcher] Korey [Lee] worked really well together, mixing speeds, getting in on guys. Command was good overall, I was just kind of able to move the ball around. Each day gets more comfortable, each outing I'm more comfortable. I felt back to normal again today, so it was pretty good.”

“One of the most impressive things is that he had a really good debut, and then he faced some adversity in Arizona, and then he’s bounced back with two pretty damn good starts,” Grifol said. “That’s what it’s about. You got to have short-term memory.”

None of this excellence is a surprise to Showalter. There’s a picture of Thorpe at age 3 wearing a chest protector and holding a mask from Showalter’s college umpiring days, stating even at that point how he was going to play pro ball. The only slight surprise is that this ascension came as a pitcher.

“Primarily all the way through, including high school, he was a position player,” Showalter said. “Now, he pitched great in high school, 26-4 over the four years. But he was also the starting shortstop on his varsity as a freshman. I don’t think any of us thought when he was a kid doing catching and infield that this was where it would head.”

Getting to Cal Poly collegiately and working under head coach Larry Lee is where Thorpe’s sole pitching focus began. Showalter was at Thorpe’s first and last game with Desert Hills High School in St. George, Utah. He was at his first and last collegiate game, his first Minor League game and his last start for Double-A Birmingham and his big league debut in Seattle on June 11.

So, the landscape photographer wanted to be at Thorpe’s home debut as well. There should be many more big games to view on the horizon for the 23-year-old hurler.

“I’m just shooting it so I can create a family documentary of his journey,” Showalter said. “I’ve been doing this since high school.”

“Really good changeup. He’s trying to get better, which is a good sign. He works hard,” said Pham of Thorpe. “Those characteristics will take you a long way in the game.