Giolito pulls it together as Chicago White Sox snap losing streak
Already feeling depressed by the worst record to start a season (9-27) in franchise history, Chicago White Sox fans who did watch the first inning of Sunday's game against the Chicago Cubs probably tuned right out.
Why watch a rerun of a bad horror movie?
In Friday's series opener at Wrigley Field, starting pitcher Carson Fulmer allowed 5 runs in the first inning while throwing 39 pitches in the Sox's 11-2 loss.
On Saturday, James Shields allowed 4 runs in the first inning while laboring through 36 pitches in the White Sox's 8-4 loss.
On Sunday, it looked to be the same stuff from Lucas Giolito. Bad stuff.
"I was just out of sync and was kind of flying all over the place," Giolito said.
That is a painfully accurate description, as the Sox's right-hander threw 28 pitches in the first inning, allowing 1 hit and 3 walks. There also were 2 wild pitches and the Cubs stole four bases.
"Tough first inning, but we know he can pitch," third baseman Matt Davidson said.
It wasn't pretty, but Giolito managed to hold the Cubs to 2 runs in the first and he settled down and went 5⅔ innings as the White Sox rallied for a 5-3 victory while snapping a seven-game losing streak.
Earning his second win of the season, Giolito allowed 3 runs on 2 hits and 7 walks before exiting with two outs in the sixth inning when his pitch count reached 100 (50 strikes).
"It's kind of been like that all year," he said. "A lot more bad ones than good ones, I guess you could say. The one thing that I'm learning through this process is just have unwavering confidence in myself, in my ability.
"Trust my stuff no matter how it's feeling or how it's coming out that day. Luckily, I was able to do that for the most part today and we were able to get that victory."
It was arguably the biggest win of the season for the White Sox, who seemed to be setting records for futility with every loss.
"Huge, huge," was how manager Rick Renteria described it after the Sox became the final major-league team to reach 10 wins. "Those guys are enjoying this victory, to say the least. They said, 'Hey, we can still win a ballgame.' It was certainly a confidence builder."
After hitting a home run (No. 11) off Kyle Hendricks in the second inning to cut the Cubs' lead in half, Davidson's sacrifice fly in the sixth scored Nicky Delmonico to snap a 3-3 tie.
"Felt pretty good," Davidson said. "It's fun when you see everyone on the team contributing and playing how we think we can play. It's pretty cool. Obviously, we come here to win every day and after the last couple of losses we had, it's a good win."