Giolito, White Sox fall flat coming out of all-star break
The major-league baseball season is an overall marathon, but the White Sox started the sprint portion Friday night.
Coming out of the all-star break with some needed wind at their backs following a strong finish in the first half, the Sox splattered early, never fully recovered and lost to the Guardians 8-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Playing 18 games in 17 days to close out the first half, the White Sox won two in a row at Cleveland and took three of four against the first-place Twins before getting some needed time off.
They tried - and failed again - to go over the .500 mark Friday.
"We didn't meet our own expectations much less those that were publicly out there for the first half," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "I think the more important part is where we sit now. Look, we are fortunate we are three games back. We are fortunate that we are relatively healthy right now and we are fortunate that this team over the past six or seven games is clicking in a much better way that resembles more what we were capable of being.
"We have an important series this weekend. And you want to try to build off the momentum we created over the last several games in Cleveland and Minnesota. I view it as our fate is in our own hands. We have plenty of games left against the teams we are chasing and we've got the talent to play at the level we've seen over the past several days. Do that more consistently than not, and I think we'll be in a good spot."
The second half started on a down note, but the White Sox (46-47) do have three more home games against the second-place Guardians, including a day/night doubleheader Saturday.
They'll need to play better if they want to stay in the AL Central race, especially at home. The Sox are now 19-26 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The White Sox were down 4-0 before they even went to the plate Friday after the Guardians jumped on starting pitcher Lucas Giolito in the first inning.
A couple of bloop hits and two more that were barreled put the White Sox in an early hole, and Giolito wound up having a forgettable outing against a team he had a career 1.77 ERA against coming into the game.
"It was tough," Giolito said. "It's never fun giving up a bunch of runs early and 9 hits. It's kind of a tough one to assess because a lot of the hits weren't hit hard. I felt like they were relatively well-executed pitches. It's unfortunate."
Giolito lasted only 3 innings and allowed 6 runs on 9 hits. His ERA for the season now stands at 5.12.
"This is one that I just move one from," Giolito said. "I'm going to continue to work on the adjustments and mechanical stuff I need to work on, especially the lower half. Just a rough outing, it (stinks). It's a results game so getting poor results, putting our team in a hole, I've go to find a way to be better."
The White Sox scored both of their runs in the third inning, on Jose Abreu's RBI double and Yasmani Grandal's run-scoring groundout.