CHICAGO –– Kyle Teel’s major league debut came with a few high-pressure moments. But aside from one mistake, the 23-year-old handled them like a pro as the White Sox defeated the Royals 7-2.

A sold out Rate Field crowd was rowdier than it had been all season with 36,916 in attendance for Friday’s Mexican Heritage Night, and they applauded as the White Sox No. 2 prospect stepped to the plate for his first-at bat in the second inning. If Teel looked for support from any of his 27 family members, they’d be hard to spot.

“I’m not going to lie, the fans were so electric,” Teel said. “Not only could I not hear my family, but I couldn’t find them in the stands.”

The moment wasn’t too big for Teel, though, as he worked a seven-pitch walk in his first plate appearance. He wanted to be aggressive, saying his mindset was to find a good pitch to hit and swing hard. But Teel also showed control of the zone, taking balls low, high and inside to reach first base.

In the next at-bat, an RBI single from Luis Robert Jr. moved Teel to third base. The White Sox tried to scratch across another run as Josh Rojas ran for second base on the pitch, but Royals second baseman Jonathan India cut off the throw and nabbed Teel well short of home plate.

That made for perhaps the only negative in Teel’s debut, one he’s already learned from.

“I completely screwed up that play,” Teel said. “I don’t want to do that again. I messed up that play. I should’ve let the play develop a little bit and then took off for home.”

Teel got a bit of revenge in the fourth inning, though, showing his defensive prowess. He caught a low and inside cutter from Davis Martin, and popped up quickly to throw out Drew Waters trying to steal second base.

After doing what he does best, Teel felt some weight lift off his shoulders.

“The nerves really settled when I threw the runner out at second,” Teel said. “I don’t really think the nerves affected me at all, but I do feel like I got more relaxed when that play happened.”

Teel came up in a key situation in the bottom of the fourth with runners on first and second base against Royals starter Seth Lugo, who finished second in AL Cy Young voting last season. Teel said pregame that he takes a lot of notes in his journal, and he seemed to take a mental note of the first-pitch slurve he whiffed at against Lugo.

Because when Lugo threw a curveball in a similar low-and-outside location, Teel made sure not to miss. He stayed through the ball and drove it to the opposite field for a single with a 95.6 mph exit velocity. He plans on giving the ball to his father, Garett, who Kyle called “a big reason I am where I am today.”

Teel was all smiles on first base, and didn’t need much to describe the first hit of his major league career.

“It felt good,” he said. “It felt really good.”

Teel flew out close to the warning track in his next at-bat, making solid contact with a 97.2 mph exit velocity. He had a chance to give the White Sox the lead in the bottom of the eighth with runners at the corners, but he showed plate discipline by taking a four-pitch walk and not trying to do too much. White Sox manager Will Venable said Teel looked in control at the plate the whole night, and it was good to see him not chase pitches in big spots.

Teel reached third base after an RBI single by Luis Robert Jr., a Josh Rojas ground out and a Tim Elko walk. And he was ready to run when he saw a ball in the dirt, scoring on a wild pitch to give the White Sox a 5-2 lead.

“He’s locked in, he’s really engaged with everything,” Venable said. “Told the third base coach that he’d be ready for a ball in the dirt and that he was going to score on a ball in the dirt. So he’s just thinking ahead and engaged in the game, and that’s what you like to see.”

He also had the responsibility of catching White Sox pitcher Davis Martin for the first time this season. That required some last-minute preparation for Teel, who arrived in Chicago around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning, but said he felt comfortable behind the plate when it was time to perform.

“It kind of felt like cramming, like for a test in college,” Teel said. “Just because, number one, I’m still learning the staff. I feel like I did a good job learning all the material I needed to and feel like we executed. … I would give myself an A.”

Martin finished with a quality start, providing six innings with five hits, two earned runs, zero walks and a season-high seven strikeouts. Martin said he led the way from a game-calling standpoint with the PitchCom device on his glove, but he noticed Teel catch on quickly to the game plan.

“We sat down together, I said here are my strengths, this is what I like to do and let’s go from there,” Martin said. “Between innings, [pitching coach Ethan] Katz did a really good job sitting us down and saying here’s what we’re doing. Here is what the scouting report says. Here’s what we’re doing well and now let’s take that out onto the field. Tried to keep it really slow, keep it easy, simplify and it worked out really well.”

“[Teel] had some really good suggestions kind of halfway through. He was paying attention. He had the feel of the game. Simultaneously we hit changeup on the strikeout to India. He’s following, he’s picking up what we want to do. He’s learning very quickly. It was a great job by him.”

Teel finished the night contributing in a variety of ways. He went 1-for-2 with a single, a run, two walks and a fly out. He also made a smart base-running play to score on a wild pitch, and caught a runner stealing from behind the plate.

That made for a memorable debut.

“This was a great experience,” Teel said. “I dreamed about this moment for a long time, since I can remember. Just the emotion I felt out on the field was really amazing. I’m just so happy.”