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.”

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