Astros 10, White Sox 1: Lucas Giolito crumbles

On the second pitch of the night, George Springer roped a fastball that hit the very top of the wall and bounced back into play.

From there, you could make one of two determinations:

  1. Maybe this is going to be Lucas Giolito’s night.
  2. This is not going to be Lucas Giolito’s night.

It definitely wasn’t Lucas Giolito’s night. He turned in the White Sox’ worst start of the season, which normally isn’t saying much this early except every starter besides Reynaldo Lopez has been terrible.

Giolito lasted just two innings, over which he allowed nine (!) runs on five hits and seven (!) walks. He started the second by walking the bases loaded, and then Josh Reddick defied baseball wisdom by swinging at the first pitch.

Reddick hit a grand slam.

Giolito threw just 31 of his 72 pitches for strikes, and finished with a game score of negative-4. By game score, it’s the worst start since Felipe Paulino got shelled by the Rangers on April 18, 2014.

In a 2018 note, Giolito soaked up four mound visits over the first two-plus innings. He started the third by issuing walks to Marwin Gonzalez and Evan Gattis, and that’s when Rick Renteria finally decided to pull the plug.

I pulled the plug after the first inning to see the Mountain Goats play. They had two encores, the first of which was six songs, including this one that resonates right now.

Bullet points:

*Trayce Thompson somehow made this a more respectable score than Friday night by hitting an opposite-field solo homer off Dallas Keuchel in his first start for the Sox this year.

*Yoan Moncada batted sixth as Renteria tried frontloading the lineup with righties. He only got one plate appearance before leaving the game. The initial speculation was a benching for a lack of hustle, but Moncada said that his hamstring felt tight, and that’s what Renteria is going with.

*Tim Anderson: Leadoff Man worked well enough, in that he started the game with a double. He didn’t advance any further, as Avisail Garcia swung through three high fastballs, and Jose Abreu discovered the plate was about six inches wider than usual. Welington Castillo grounded out, and that was 60 percent of the White Sox’ 0-for-6 performance with runners in scoring position.

*The Sox did turn three double plays to minimize the damage. Leury Garcia, who replaced Moncada at second, made a turn from his knees on a 1-4-3 double play.

*Chris Volstad kept this game from getting ridiculous by throwing more innings than Giolito (three). He issued a solo homer to Reddick, but Luis Avilan, Gregory Infante and Joakim Soria were able to keep it scoreless afterward.

*Danny Farquhar’s jersey hung in the White Sox bullpen. This stretch is now difficult for the Sox for multiple reasons.

Record: 4-13 | Box score

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ImmortalTimeTravelMan

I haven’t seen a shelling this bad since Sherman burned Atlanta.

karkovice squad

With only 17 Ks through 2 games, Sox hitters will need extra innings to break that record. Lots of extra innings.

Marty34

Glad to see Moncada wasn’t benched for not hustling because I didn’t think he was dogging it at all down the line.

GrinnellSteve

So I’m reading this recap and “I’m a Trainwreck” by the Old 97’s is playing.

Is Giolito hurt? What the hell is going on?