White Sox 2, Indians 0: The pitching is cured

White Sox win

The White Sox stumbled into Cleveland having allowed 30 runs over their previous three games.

Halfway into a four-game set at Progressive Field, they’ve allowed one run to the Indians over two.

Lucas Giolito threw a career-long 7โ…“ innings, and the bullpen survived an eighth-inning scare to preserve the shutout the rest of the way. Coming on the heels of a successful night for Ivรกn Nova, the Sox may need a series or two to fully understand whether they’re dealing with better pitching or dreadful lineups, but hey, the American League has a few of those.

Giolito can only concern himself with the task at hand, and he handled it tonight. He allowed just three hits and three walks over those 7โ…“ innings while striking out eight, and he did it with a breaking ball tied behind his back. He got over the 100-pitch mark on fastballs (67) and changeups (34) alone, with Statcast only seeing three curves and a slider.

One of those curves hung at Jason Kipnis’ eyes and turned into a double to start the fourth inning, starting the only jam Giolito really faced. Six pitches later, he was out of it. Jose Ramirez flied out to right, with Kipnis tagging to third. Carlos Santana’s popout to short couldn’t score him, and neither could Carlos Gonzalez’s lineout to left.

Giving up flyouts wasn’t a bad strategy, because with the temperature in the 40s and a stiff wind blowing in, the ball wasn’t traveling. Jose Abreu challenged that wind with a deep drive in the seventh, but what would’ve ordinarily been a two-run homer in the seventh inning died in front of the wall.

Instead, the Sox had to sweat it out. Jace Fry relieved Giolito with one out in the eighth as the top of the order approached for a fourth time, and he immediately had a sweat out a review for a 3-1 putout, as first base umpire Gabe Morales thought Fry missed the bag. He was half-right, because while Fry’s original step was to the side of first, he ended up swiping it with his toe on a second effort before Mike Freeman’s foot hit the bag.

That challenge loomed large when Francisco Lindor singled and Kipnis doubled to jeopardize the White Sox’ lead. Fry loaded the bases on a four-pitch walk to Jose Ramirez, and they were only loaded because McCann blocked a few pitches in the dirt. Alex Colomรฉ then came in to face Carlos Santana with no margin for error.

Tensions ran high that at-bat, so much so that Rick Renteria was thrown out by Marty Foster from 150 feet away for protesting a bad checked-swing call that evened the count at 1. Said count eventually ran full, but Renteria could see from the clubhouse that he got his strike back when Santana took a pitch below the zone. It should’ve been ball four, but Jerry Meals called it strike three, and Colomรฉ was a quarter of the way to a four-out save.

The White Sox offense didn’t do much against Jefry Rodrigruez, but it only had to get on the board to win. Yolmer Sรกnchez did so in the third, leading off with a double, moving to third on a Ryan Cordell bunt and scoring on a Yoan Moncada flare to left. Moncada was picked off to thwart any further damage.

The Sox had a chance to rattle Rodriguez in the fourth after a couple walks loaded the bases, but Tim Anderson couldn’t force Rodriguez in the zone and tapped into a 1-2 fielder’s choice for the second out, and they didn’t convert.

Instead, the Sox only scored again in the sixth. Abreu hit the leadoff double that time, and after advancing to third on Yonder Alonso’s grounder to first, he scored on McCann’s single through the middle.

Bullet points:

*McCann had himself a night. Along with the two hits, the RBI, the work catching Giolito’s longest outing and blocking Fry’s errant pitches, he also gunned down Freeman at second to end the third on a SHOTHO.

*Charlie Tilson is 2-for-2 when it comes to successful starts. He reached base on a single and a walk, stole a base and made a diving catch in left for the second out of the ninth.

Record: 16-18 | Box score | Highlights

Author

  • Jim Margalus

    Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Letโ€™s talk curling.

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soxexile

I wouldnโ€™t say the pitching improved so much as the Sox are kicking the Indians when theyโ€™re down. ย Cleveland hasnโ€™t been scoring much lately.

mikeyb

7+ shutout innings from Giolito against even a AAA team would be worth noting.

knoxfire30

Yea, its a weak cleveland lineup but still he dominated it. He appears to be finally getting on track, confidence is growing, stuff is being harnessed. Fingers crossed it continues.

Flitcraft

That SHOTHO came on my favorite sequence from Giolito. After missing inside to Lindor with a 2-2 change to run the count full, Giolito threw another change, this one up and away, in a gotta-be fastball situation. Lindor whiffed.

Video of all of Giolito’s strike-threes in this White Sox tweet:ย 

https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1125932519227047936?s=20

tommytwonines

Nice start for Giolito. Good two days in Cleveland. Enjoy it a bit – itโ€™s okay!

knoxfire30

WAR C positional rank… mccann is now 1st in the AL … incredible

tommytwonines

Stop yourself. Thereโ€™s only one catcher worth having in all of mlb.ย 

One.ย 

gibby32

Maybe we have him.

roke1960

Of all players with more than 75 ABs, only Cody Bellinger has a higher average than McCann’s .359.

tommytwonines

.359? ย Thatโ€™s pretty good. But his lifetime average is .245. The guy Iโ€™m thinking of has a lifetime average of .340! ย Oh wait, sorry, itโ€™s actually .240. Damn! But thatโ€™s a counting stat, so. ย And my guy plays 80 games a year! Heโ€™s that good!

Amar

Maybe we had him *fixed*

Sorry, couldnโ€™t resist :p

roke1960

There are definitely some positives to take from the last two days. Tilson looks like a different player from last year. He and Leury and Cordell can cover right and center for the near future. McCann just gives a quality at bat almost every time up. Now .350 certainly isn’t sustainable, but he actually looks pretty solid, and it’s now been almost a quarter of the season. And Giolito looks like a confident pitcher out there as compared to last year. A lot of life on his fastball and the changeup is deadly. Hopefully when he pitches in warm weather he’ll get the feel for his curveball back.
I think it’s time to go out and get Keuchel. Now that Rodon is likely out for this year and most of next, they need a lefty that they can count on. Keuchel is not an ace, but should give them quality innings and would be a replacement for Rodon. Two games back in the wild card, Eloy back soon, Engel and Palka out of the lineup, the Indians are terrible, money that “will be spent”. Now is the time to get him. Who cares about the 2nd round pick. Would you rather have a mid-rotation starter or another wasted pick by the Sox org?

andyfaust

I doubt the white sox or anyone will grab him this close to the draft. Keuchel would probably prefer to wait at this point too. another month and his price might creep up some since a draft pick will no longer be attached. Of course you could argue the opposite and say his price will drop, especially on a one year deal since he’d only be pitching 3-4 months instead of 4-5 if he signed today.

roke1960

I would imagine his price would creep up after the draft- which means the Sox won’t get him. Losing Rodon for at least a year is a good reason to change their thinking. Sign him now, before other teams get involved after the draft. They are going to need a veteran pitcher going forward. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about starters, it’s that someone is always getting hurt. Ideally their rotation in 2020-21 would be Kopech, Cease, Giolito, Lopez, Rodon. But now Rodon is hurt, Kopech is coming off TJS. You need to look no further than the Mets to see how a super-rotation never materializes. Getting a decent 200-inning guy who can pitch to a 4 ERA is necessary. They are not going to sign Cole next winter. This winter’s fiasco showed that won’t happen. Time to get a decent veteran innings eater now.

mikeyb

Keuchel has made it very clear he’s not looking for “decent 200-inning guy who can pitch to a 4 ERA” money. He said he’s already rejected quite a few deals. I can’t envision the Sox paying him #2 starter money, which is what it sounds like he’s looking for.

roke1960

Yes, they may have to overpay for him, but they need a dependable lefty in the rotation now that Rodon’s gone for a while. Again, they aren’t going to pony up for Cole or Wheeler or any of the big guys this winter.

Neat_on_the_rocks

I admit, you’re doing a decent job on selling me, you should work in Sales.

And the longer we hover around .500, the less that #2 pick will matter as the allotment money will be lower.

In the end it all comes down to cost. I’ve long said even now I would not mind Keuchel on the right deal. 3/45M is something I could still get behind even now. if hes seriously open to a 1 year deal than I say fuck Reinsdorf and his wallt, give him 22M to get him here the rest of the year. Our payroll is slow low we have that money available.

But I dont want to give him the 4/80+ hes probably looking for. “the money” can be spent better than that IMO.

roke1960

Yeah, I don’t think he’s getting 4/$80+. I think they can get him for something like 3/$55.

phillyd

The allotment money will not be lower. We would lose a pick in this years draft. The current record of the White Sox has no bearing on the draft pick compensation.

andyfaust

I can’t disagree. After the June draft, all he’ll cost is money. If you asked me 6 months ago, I would have thought that puts the this year’s Sox in great position to sign an FA like that. But alas, everyone like me who subscribed to that thinking was greeted with a couple swift kicks in the nuts by the Sox FO. Fool me once…

NDSox12

While the Indians certainly look vulnerable, I’m not getting too excited about being two games out of a wild card spot considering it is the three AL East powers that would likely need to be chased down in the long run. And we just saw how well the Sox matched up against Boston.

Neat_on_the_rocks

Giolito was touching 95 MPH and sitting 94 on his four seamer; touching 80 MPH and sitting 82 on his changeup. If he can do that regularly, we’ve got ourselves a starting pitcher. On days when his slider/curve are working he will readily deal with righties, and that change up is good enough to get past lefties.

roke1960

It seems that he has trouble getting the feel for his breaking pitches on cold days, and yesterday was really cold. If he can keep the fastball/changeup he had yesterday and mix in the curve when the weather warms up, he could be really good.

mqr

They 1000% lose that game if Narvaez is catching, without even taking away McCann’s RBI

GoGoSoxFan

This. McCann saved at least two or three runs by blocking 55 foot breaking balls from Fry with a man on third.

joewho112

What’s up with Yoan and getting caught stealing / picked off? He’s burner. Get Lance Johnson in here to teach him how to steal a base

Smclean09

The umps had never seen their pitcher before so didnt call the balk when he buckled his knee. And it was a perfect throw over. I dont think that one was on Moncada as much

joewho112

Perhaps, but his overall steal percentage is not great for a guy with his wheels

GoGoSoxFan

Omar Vizquel should be coaching in Chicago. I’d give him the third base job, plus working with the infielders and base stealers.

gibby32

Oh, you’re going to rely on facts, are you.

GoGoSoxFan

Oh. Well two outta three ain’t bad.