advertisement

Giolito in Cy Young chase, but White Sox starter much more likely to claim different award

Lucas Giolito would like nothing more than to win the Cy Young Award, handed out to the best pitcher in the American and National Leagues.

“It's really cool,” the White Sox's starting pitcher said. “I definitely wasn't thinking about that going into the year. The biggest focus was making the changes I needed to make and just being a more consistent pitcher. I've been showing I can do that and more. That's all I concern myself with.

“I know that if I'm doing that then I'm going to put myself in a good position when it comes to numbers and everything. But yeah, I'm not like actively trying to go out and win a Cy Young Award. I think that that's something that comes as a by-product of really good, focused work.”

It was another quality start for Giolito in Tuesday night's 3-1 loss to the first-place Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field.

With 9 strikeouts over 6 innings, Giolito pushed his season total to 203. He is the first Sox right-hander to reach 200 strikeouts since Javier Vazquez did it in consecutive years (2007-08).

“Knowing the year I had last year and the changes I made, it's a pretty cool accomplishment,” Giolito said. “I'm happy about that. I knew that I was that type of pitcher, I just had to find it somewhere. I'm happy that I did.”

Will Giolito get Cy Young votes? There is no doubt. But with a field that is headed by the Astros' Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander while including the Rangers' Mike Minor and Lance Lynn and the Rays' Charlie Morton, there is plenty of competition.

A better bet? Comeback Player of the Year.

After allowing 2 runs over 6 innings against Minnesota, Giolito's ERA stands at 3.20. Last year, his 6.13 ERA was the highest in the major leagues.

Awards or no awards, it's been a remarkable season for Giolito, and his standout showing bodes very well for the future.

“He truly transformed himself and shows you anything is possible when you put your mind to it and you understand what's going on, what you're trying to do,” manager Rick Renteria said.

After posting a 5.65 ERA in 5 July starts, Giolito bounced back with a 1.91 ERA in August.

Like most aware pitchers, he isn't stressing about chasing 20 wins.

“There's only so much you can control when it comes to that,” said Giolito, who is 14-7 on the season. “Pitcher wins are very much a team stat. It's a group effort. I just need to go out there and make sure that I'm throwing shutdown innings after we score. The defense is continuing to be solid behind me. We'll see what can happen.”

Giolito's lone blip Tuesday came in the second inning, when the Twins showed why they lead the major leagues in home runs.

Marwin Gonzalez led off the second with a homer and Jonathan Schoop added a solo shot with two outs.

“The elevated fastball wasn't working as well today,” Giolito said. “I think they were cheating to that a little bit, so kind of went a different route after the second inning, threw away more, tried to mix in some more sliders on the hands of lefties. It ended up working out pretty well, but we came up just short.”

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.