White Sox take another step up with 3-2 win over Yankees
The miserable early-season White Sox memories continue to fade.
Opening a three-game series Tuesday night against New York at Yankees Stadium, the resurgent Sox added another win to remember.
"It's all starting to click," Liam Hendriks told reporters after the White Sox beat New York 3-2. "That should be a scary thing for the rest of the division."
Left for dead after losing 21 of their first 28 games, the resurgent Sox (27-35) have won four straight and are only 4½ games behind the Twins in the AL Central.
"I'm enjoying the climb," manager Pedro Grifol said. "I'm enjoying getting better and playing better."
En route to beating the Yankees, starter Lucas Giolito pitched 6 no-hit innings before turning it over to the bullpen after throwing 100 pitches.
Grifol said Giolito jokingly pushed to continue in the seventh inning and beyond while extending his pitch count to 160, but it was still a fantastic effort and the right-hander's slider and changeup were both weapons.
"I saw him in control at all times," Grifol said. "I saw him up in the zone, I saw focus, poise, presence. He was just in control. He pitched, He competed. It was a really good outing for him. He did a great job."
Giolito definitely had no-hit stuff, but his pitch count already stood at 23 after the first inning mainly due to a pair of two-out walks.
"Too many balls," Giolito said. "My stuff felt really good and I was getting ahead of a lot of guys but I played into their patient approach. One take-away is be more efficient, attack the (strike) zone and not try to chase strikeouts too much. Be able to go a little deeper."
Giolito was motivated by his last two starts, where he gave up 7 runs on 10 hits and 9 walks in 8⅔ innings.
"My last two, I was not proud of," Giolito said. "Coming into Yankee Stadium, I definitely wanted to set the tone for this series."
New York ended the no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh inning when Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled off reliever Joe Kelly on a drive that fell between center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and left fielder Andrew Benintendi.
With a 3-1 lead in the ninth inning thanks to a pair of home runs from catcher Seby Zavala, Hendriks came on and gave up a homer to Josh Donaldson on his first pitch.
After that, it was three straight grounders to shortstop Tim Anderson and Hendriks recorded his first save since Oct. 3 of last season.
"I didn't feel great today, I felt OK," said Hendriks, who missed the first two months of the season while being treated for Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. "One bad pitch sets the tone a little bit, but I was lucky after that to get a few groundballs and get out of it. It almost helps when the stadium gets that loud. I tend to get a little better after that, for whatever reason. That helped me lock in a little more."