White Sox 2, Royals 0: Yet another Lucas Giolito gem

White Sox win

Four starts into the season, the Kansas City Royals are no closer to figuring out Lucas Giolito.

Instead, Giolito had his best game yet against the divisional foes. He struck out 11 over 7⅔ scoreless innings, holding the Royals to just three singles and two walks. Aaron Bummer and Alex Colomé faced the minimum while handling the rest, and as a result, Eloy Jiménez’s two-run homer was enough for the Sox to snap their three-game losing streak.

Back to facing a lineup with a fair amount of righties, Giolito went back to his slider as his primary weapon. In fact, he didn’t show the Royals a changeup the first time through the order, yet still managed to record eight strikeouts over the first four innings, including all backwards K’s in the second.

(One of them was Whit Merrifield, who stepped out of the box once he saw Terrance Gore get a huge jump, only to forget he had two strikes on him. Giolito dropped a slider in the zone for the easiest third strike he may ever get.)

The Royals eventually put the ball in play, but not with much authority. Only five of them topped 90 mph in exit velocity, and four of them turned into outs.

Giolito started the eighth at 104 pitches, but Rick Renteria let him go until the first sign of strain. That didn’t arrive until Merrifield’s two-out single on the seventh pitch of the inning, but Bummer induced a groundout from Alex Gordon to stop it short of a threat.

Brad Keller was almost as good as Giolito, if you consider groundouts as exciting as punchouts. He racked up 14 of those over eight innings, over which he scattered five hits and a walk while striking out four.

His only burp came in the second. With one out, Jose Rondón — batting fifth for some reason — pulled a single through the left side. Jiménez followed and saw three straight pitches away. He took a slider in the dirt, watched a 94 mph fastball on the outside corner, and then when Keller came with another one at 94 in a similar spot, Jiménez reached out and flicked it over the right field fence to give the Sox a 2-0 lead.

That was the only damage Keller allowed, but it was enough to sink his record to 3-8. Giolito, conversely, is 9-1 with a 2.28 ERA, including a 3-0 record and a 1.80 ERA over four starts to the Royals.

Bullet points:

*Giolito got 22 swinging strikes out of his 111 pitches, with his late-arriving changeup leading the way (nine out of 23).

*At 2 hours and 28 minutes, it’s in a three-way tie for the fastest nine-inning White Sox game of the year, and the fastest of any game that required a team to hit in the bottom of the ninth.

*James McCann was charged with a throwing error when his attempt to get Adalberto Mondesi skipped into center field, but with two outs and a two-run lead, the extra 90 feet didn’t end up mattering.

*Home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman had a big plate all game, and Ned Yost got ejected for arguing a low strike in the sixth.

Record: 30-33 | Box score | Highlights

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GrinnellSteve

Minor correction: He held them to 3 hits, 5 baserunners.

Joliet Orange Sox

There was a preseason podcast discussion about whether any Sox starter would get 10 wins. I’m starting to think Giolito has a chance.

GrinnellSteve

I love the fact that Giolito turns tendencies on their ear. Today’s shelving of the change to begin isn’t the first time he’s attacked teams and hitters in ways they weren’t prepared for.

Credit to McCann for guiding him this season. Credit to Lucas for having the command over his repertoire to do that.

GrinnellSteve

When my son was 11 or 12, I was coaching his traveling team in a tournament. He was our ace, but he was getting knocked around in an inning. He struggled to get 2 outs. Then he got to 2 strikes on the hitter. The hitter stepped out of the box. The teenage ump was in his crouch. The hitter didn’t make a gesture requesting time. The ump didn’t signal time. My boy, who could have been flustered and just pitching out the string, jumped on it and quick pitched a perfect strike right down the middle.

I was so proud of him in that moment. He was still actively engaged in the process. We’ve all seen pitchers get lit up and then forget to cover first or back up the plate. Not my boy that day.

But alas, this tale has an unhappy ending. Despite being in the crouch to call the pitch, the ump didn’t expect a pitch to be thrown. My son was halfway to the dugout when the ump called a ball. I yelled, “What?” The ump promptly ejected me. It should have been either no pitch if there was a phantom time out or a strike. I just said the one word. I didn’t make a scene. The tournament director told me I was right, but I still had to leave the complex and sit under a shade tree while we finished the game. When all this was going down some old man was in my face, screaming, “You don’t exist! You don’t exist!”

16 years later baseball fans in Grinnell still talk about it.

As soon as Giolito struck out Merrifeld, my phone rang. It was my son.

soxexile

Nice to know that the MLB umpires do a better job than the kids’ league.

GoGoSoxFan

“this tale has an unhappy ending”

I think you’re wrong about this, it has a very happy ending. That call from your son; priceless.

GrinnellSteve

I probably talk to him 3 or 4 or 5 days a week. He often calls when he’s walking to work to talk about the Sox, to get advice, to talk about his music career, to check in on us, whatever. We’re a close family, and I couldn’t be happier.

Lurker Laura

I used to call my father just to talk Sox, too.

Lurker Laura

My favorite part of this story is that your son was watching the White Sox today. You raised him right.

GrinnellSteve

Weren’t the children of everyone on this board watching the Sox today?

roke1960

My son was at a bachelor party, but I kept him informed the whole game. It’s one of the few games he’s missed this year.

soxfan

My daughter’s a Sox fan for lemon ice and peanuts. Hoping they’re gateway drugs to the real thing. 

Joliet Orange Sox

Here’s an interesting column from mlb.com that gives some hope that Giolito’s improvement will last.

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/lucas-giolito-living-up-to-potential

JB98

I’ve always said this rebuild will never turn a corner until the Sox start putting competent starting pitching on the mound more days than not. It looks like we’ve got ourselves a pitcher in Giolito. He’s only one, and we need four more. But at least there is one.