Chicago White Sox's Giolito completes no-hit masterpiece
Guaranteed Rate Field's light towers flickered, knocking the local broadcast off the air briefly. The scoreboard lost power momentarily.
Fortunately for the White Sox, starting pitcher Lucas Giolito was even more electric Tuesday night.
The 26-year-old right-hander fired a no-hitter to lead the White Sox to a 4-0 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates for their eighth win in their last nine games.
Giolito struck out 13, matching a career high he set in his last start. The only hitter who reached was Erik Gonzalez, who led off the fourth with a walk.
"I knew it was working after the first inning," Giolito said. "Nice 1-2-3 inning and then it just kept building and building. After the sixth inning is when I really started to notice what was going on. Then after the seventh, it was like, 'I got 6 outs left. We're going to make this happen.' "
It was the White Sox's 19th no-hitter and first since Philip Humber tossed a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners on April 21, 2012.
Giolito retired the first nine batters he faced before Gonzalez coaxed a four-pitch pass. Shortstop Tim Anderson kept the no-hitter intact with a defensive gem in the seventh, making a running throw on a softly hit ball off the bat of Bryan Reynolds for the second out of the inning. Jose Abreu deftly snagged the one-hop throw.
Giolito was coming off his best start of the season, a 13-strikeout effort against the Detroit Tigers that saw him throw 7 scoreless innings. He started the Pittsburgh ninth by striking out Jarrod Dyson on a check-swing. Jose Osuna fouled out to right fielder Adam Engel, and then Engel stabbed Gonzalez's sinking liner for the history-making 27th out.
"Right when the ball came off the bat, I broke in. It was well hit and low," Engel said. "It was basically an easy read. I got a good jump and just tried to run through the baseball, like all the reps I've taken out there. Made the catch, and it was an incredible feeling seeing Giolito accomplish that feat."
With James McCann catching him, Giolito threw 101 pitches, 74 strikes. After the final out, Giolito's teammates hugged and high-fived him, never mind the MLB's recommended social-distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the slugging White Sox didn't homer, they pounded out 9 hits, including 3 by rookie Luis Robert. During the Sox's 3-run second against Pirates lefty Steven Brault, a power surge interrupted NBC Sports Chicago's broadcast.
"We have a very good family here," Abreu, the reigning American League player of the week, said through a translator before the game. "We have a very good atmosphere on the team, and one of the most remarkable things is we have a different hero every night.
"It's not just me. One day it can be Lucas, one day it could be Eloy (Jimenez), or (Luis) Robert, or (Yoan) Moncada, Dallas (Keuchel)."
Tuesday night, the hero was obvious. Mind you, two seasons ago, Giolito posted a 6.13 ERA in 32 starts, before making the all-star team last year.
"It's crazy, man," Giolito said. "The weird thing is that I always envisioned that I'd throw a no-hitter in the big leagues. If you would have asked me that in 2018, I probably would have been like, 'What the heck are you talking about?' But that was a weird year. I think [the turnaround] is just a product of hard work, determination, and learning how to trust myself, trust my stuff."