Civale Battles Through White Sox Debut, Following Venable Ejection

It wasn’t a fairytale debut for Aaron Civale, but on Sunday, he gave a clear glimpse of why the team acquired him.

The veteran right-hander labored through five innings, allowing two runs on six hits, four walks, and four strikeouts. His 103 pitches thrown on the day marked the most any White Sox starter has all season. However, the offense was only able to push across one run in a 2-1 loss to the Texas Rangers. 

A shaky first inning set the tone for Aaron Civale’s afternoon, as two borderline walks sparked early frustration. White Sox manager Will Venable was ejected just 13 pitches into the game following a heated argument with home plate umpire Marvin Hudson over the strike zone. Civale walked leadoff hitter Josh Smith after a six-pitch battle that ended with a cutter on the black ruled a ball. Although Wyatt Langford followed with a double-play grounder to limit the damage, Civale issued another walk after a fastball narrowly missed high and outside.

From Venable’s vantage point in the dugout, it was the second time Civale had been squeezed on a borderline pitch—prompting the manager to bark at Hudson in defense of his new starter.

#WhiteSox manager Will Venable has been ejected from today's game. pic.twitter.com/gd9iBGDUJF

— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) June 15, 2025

While Civale escaped the first inning without allowing a run, his pitch count climbed quickly as he fell behind six of the first seven batters he faced.

“More first-pitch strikes is definitely the target moving forward, and definitely it’s been a whirlwind of a week,” Civale, who requested a trade from the Brewers after being removed from their rotation and was dealt to the White Sox for Andrew Vaughn the following day, told reporters after the game.

The 30-year-old right-hander arrived in Dallas on Saturday afternoon before putting on a White Sox jersey for the first time Sunday.

It wasn’t a clean outing, especially while working with unfamiliar teammates, but Civale managed to limit the damage and keep the White Sox within striking distance.
“Credit to him for grinding through that,” Venable said.

Although Civale was brought in to help ease the workload on the club’s young arms, the bullpen was still forced to cover eight innings. Still, Civale was given a longer leash than most other White Sox starters likely would have, simply to get him through five frames.

"The first couple of innings, just getting back out there and settling in, getting used to a new team, new catcher, and all of the above, I just did my best to go out there and compete," Civale told MLB.com. "We'll work on the things we need to work on moving forward.