Vince Velasquez made his major-league debut in Chicago.

Pitching for the Houston Astros, Velasquez allowed three hits, struck out five and walked four in five scoreless innings against the White Sox on June 10, 2015.

The right-hander, who signed a one-year deal with the Sox after the lockout, gets the start Tuesday in the home opener against the Seattle Mariners at Guaranteed Rate Field.

“It kind of brings back a little bit of memories, kind of a welcoming thing,” he told the Tribune on Sunday. “It’s an honor to really open up in front of Chicago knowing that it was my debut.

“The atmosphere and what the town of Chicago can bring to the table adds to it, and that’s the energy you want to be around and involved with.”

Velasquez and Dallas Keuchel are the scheduled starters for the first two games of the series. Manager Tony La Russa planned to continue the conversation with the coaching staff Monday in regard to options for Thursday’s series finale.

Flexibility and creativity will be keys as the Sox try to navigate the early schedule without injured starters Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito.

“It’s a unique season based off of last year’s season, which was unique off of the 60-game season,” pitching coach Ethan Katz said Sunday. “Injuries are to be expected. Obviously you don’t want to deal with them or have them definitely impact the first game of the season, but our player development staff has done a great job getting guys ready to help us up here.”

Lynn could miss the first eight weeks of the season after he underwent right knee surgery to repair a torn tendon. Giolito left his opening-day start against the Detroit Tigers on Friday after the fourth inning because of abdominal tightness on his left side. La Russa said an optimistic timeline would mean Giolito misses two starts with a “low abdominal strain.”

“We want to be smart,” Katz said when asked about Giolito. “We don’t want to have a setback either. He’s going to push the envelope to get back as soon as he can. We just have to really trust the medical staff and when they feel like he’s ready, we can start ramping him and get him going.

“But they don’t believe it’s going to be too long. Hopefully it’s a couple starts. Also we have a long road ahead of us, so we have to be smart.”

When it comes to possible fill-ins while Lynn and Giolito are out, Katz said, “Everybody’s an option.”

“Vince is an option, we’ve got some guys that are not here as possible options, guys that are in the clubhouse as options,” Katz said. “We’re just going to have to be creative and try to weather this storm and find matchups that best suit the other team’s lineup.”

Velasquez, 29, went a combined 3-9 with a 6.30 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 25 games (21 starts) for the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres last season.

“There’s some stuff that he’s worked on from the delivery standpoint,” Katz said. “And there’s some little things we’ve added to that as well. And just talking a lot about his usage: How do we want to set up things and how we want to use things and what we can do to help him be more consistent with his pitches. Those have been the main focus points.”

Velasquez is ready to contribute in any way.

“Unfortunately we don’t have our full arsenal (of pitchers), but we’re making the best of what we’ve got and we’re coming out with a bang regardless,” he said. “That’s the mentality going into the home opener. My whole approach is to continue what I’ve been working on.

“I talked to Tony about it and it really was about simplicity. A matter of simplifying things and having that mindset of going out and winning the series. That’s what it comes down to.”

Velasquez looks to continue the string of solid outings by Sox starters Giolito, Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech. Keuchel will follow him Wednesday. For now, the Sox like having Reynaldo López work out of the bullpen; he had a 3.43 ERA in 20 outings (nine starts) last season.

“I think without Joe (Kelly), it’s hard to take (López) out of that (bullpen role),” La Russa said Sunday. Kelly is on the injured list, recovering from a right biceps nerve injury.

“(López has) got so much versatility that way. Joe comes back and we’ll see what the starting situation is maybe then. We have our fingers crossed on (Johnny) Cueto too.”

The veteran Cueto, reportedly signed to a minor-league deal last week, likely will get work at the Sox complex in Arizona before heading to Triple-A Charlotte.

Katz and Cueto have a relationship from when Katz was the assistant pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants in 2020.

“If you want to know where Cueto’s at, just look at his Instagram,” Katz said. “I know him being in shape is not an issue. He’s in shape. It’s just a matter of watching his Instagram, who he is facing, some younger kids in the Dominican. We need to get him facing some minor-league guys first.

“When he’s ready, I’m sure he’ll be banging on the door, and we’re going to be banging on the door of Triple A to let us know when they think he’s ready as well and we’re going to go from there.”

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