Sure, it's only the Orioles. But before today, it was Cardinals and the Twins. Add it up, and Lucas Giolito's personal three-game winning streak sealed a four-game sweep of Baltimore, which has now lost 13 in a row.
Giolito improved his numbers in just about every directions with a season-high 12 strikeouts over seven innings of one-run ball, and the White Sox needed every out of his effort, because they didn't take the lead until he had thrown his final pitch. A big two-strike triple by Nick Madrigal finally put the Sox ahead in the bottom of the seventh, with a Yoán Moncada single adding insurance the Sox didn't need.
As a result, the White Sox responded to a three-game sweep in the Bronx last weekend by winning six of seven, and extending their lead in the AL Central by anywhere from 3½ to 4½ games depending on the outcome of the back half of the Cleveland-Toronto doubleheader.
Giolito had his good velocity and his good changeup, and he didn't really need anything else. Those two pitches accounted for 90 of his 108 on the day, and 26 of his 28 swinging strikes. The fastball sat at 94, and reached 97 at the end, while the changeup worked high and low.
He only paid for one mistake, which was an 0-2 fastball that DJ Stewart met at the top of the zone for a solo shot that barely cleared the right-field wall. He also encountered only one jam, which started with a perfect Cedric Mullins bunt with one out. Mullins stole second, and Giolito walked Freddy Galvis to fill in first base. He didn't seem to want to pitch to Trey Mancini, especially after a very wild ball two that allowed both runners to advance, loading the bases with one out.
Giolito rediscovered his release point in time. He struck out Anthony Santander with three changeups, then tripled up on Maikel Franco after a first-pitch slider out of the zone. Franco made contact with the last one, but only enough to pop out weakly to Zack Collins to end the threat. Giolito then pitched a relatively smooth seventh to close out his afternoon.
A Baltimore group effort led by Keegan Akin was just as effective through six, as he limited the damage to Billy Hamilton's second homer in as many games. The Sox mounted a couple other threats, but Yermín Mercedes couldn't capitalize on either one. He flied out to right with two on the third, and then saw Galvin made a slick pick on a hot shot for the second time on the afternoon to deny him two RBIs in the fifth.
The White Sox finally found a pitcher they could damage when Dillon Tate started the seventh. Tim Anderson greeted him with a single, stole second, then took third when Tate threw wildly into center field after he'd stepped off in time to temporarily thwart Anderson's attempt for a Lance Johnson jump to third.
After all the drama, Anderson coasted home when Madrigal bopped an elevated sinker into the right-field corner. It bounced over the side wall, caromed around the netting and back into play. By the time the ball returned to the infield, Madrigal was sliding into third with an RBI triple. The extra 90 feet required Baltimore to play infield-in, and Moncada scorched a single through the middle to make it 3-1.
Garrett Crochet and Liam Hendriks retired all three batters they faced, even if they didn't strike out an O.
Bullet points:
*Mercedes went 0-for-4 with six stranded during his hard-luck afternoon.
*The Orioles went 0-for-24 with runners in scoring position over the four games.
*The game clocked in at 2 hours, 41 minutes, the third-fastest nine-inning game of the season.
*Jimmy Lambert will be starting one of the doubleheader games in Cleveland Monday. Michael Kopech, who was last seen limping off the field four days ago, is on the bereavement list for a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven.
