Giolito, White Sox get better of Flaherty, Cardinals
Yes, that was Ethan Katz pacing a bit in the dugout during Tuesday night's White Sox-Cardinals game at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The pitching coach was keeping tabs on Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, and Katz also had a rooting interest in St. Louis starter Jack Flaherty.
"It's really special," Katz said. "I don't know if this will ever happen again, where a high school coach is in a dugout coaching two guys he had at the age of 14. We're all still very close and it will be a special night.
"No favoritism here, except the White Sox need a win today."
In a matchup between former Harvard-Westlake School teammates, Katz - who coached Giolito and Flaherty during their prep days - got his wish.
In a ragged defensive game, Giolito and the Sox beat the Cardinals 8-3.
"I knew we were going up against a good starter," Giolito said after pitching 6 innings and allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits. He had 5 strikeouts and didn't walk a batter.
Flaherty, who came in with an 8-0 record, gave up 7 runs over 3⅔ innings but only 3 were earned.
"I know how good he is," Giolito said. "Just wanted to bring my best stuff and try to go as deep as I could and limit the damage. Luckily we were able to pull that one out. Once the game was going on, it was the same as any other, just the focus on what I was doing."
The White Sox took advantage of errors by St. Louis shortstop Edmundo Sosa and right fielder Tommy Edman in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.
The fielding miscues rattled Flaherty, as did another one by third baseman Nolan Arenado in the second inning, which ended with the Sox in front 5-0.
"A lot of mistakes early for them in the field and our guys took advantage of it," Giolito said after the first-place Sox (28-19) beat the first-place Cardinals (26-22) for the second straight game. "I feel like those mistakes kind of got us going to the point where then we were really hitting the ball well. I was able to get a comfortable lead and go through 6. No complaints."
The Cardinals scored their first run in the third courtesy of a throwing error on third baseman Yoan Moncada, and their second run crossed the plate in the fourth inning on a Giolito wild pitch.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jose Abreu put the game well out of reach with a 2-run homer.
Katz had a feeling Giolito was going to be ready to go against his close friend.
"Usually, he really strives for big moments like this," Katz said. "He was locked in on the (Shane) Bieber outing earlier this year and I think this is just another one of those outings where he's going to try to one-up Jack."