White Sox: Lucas Giolito Flirts With No-Hitter in Victory Over Royals
White Sox starting pitcher has a no-hit bid broken up in the seventh inning but was able to provide a strong outing for the team to help get their first win of 2019.
The White Sox were able to get their first win of the season on Sunday afternoon over the Kansas City Royals behind a dominant performance from Lucas Giolito. The 24-year-old pitcher flirted with a no-hitter as he had the best outing of any starting pitcher thus far for the White Sox to help the team to a 6-3 win.
With the White Sox starting pitchers previously unable to pitch longer in the team’s last two games, Giolito was able to have his best outing to start the season. Giolito had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning with one out against the Royals.
He would lose his no-hit bid after Alex Gordon singled to center field. Giolito finished his remarkable Sunday with 6.2 innings pitched, eight strikeouts, one walk, and gave up two earned runs. Considering that Giolito finished last season with a 10-13 record and 6.13 ERA, his performance against the Royals has to be viewed as good progress for the right-handed pitcher.
The Sox offense was able to provide Giolito with run support and got off to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to a pair of solo home runs. Jose Abreu got the Sox on the board with his second home run of the season to put them ahead 1-0. Yonder Alonso would follow-up with his first home run of 2019 to make it a 2-0 lead for the Sox.
In the sixth inning, the Sox added to their lead with a pair of bases-loaded walks to Alonso and Eloy Jimenez. This extended their lead from 2-0 to 4-0 at the end of the top of the sixth inning. In the seventh inning, Yoan Moncada hit a single that scored James McCann to extend the Sox lead to 5-0. Alonso would later hit a single to score Abreu and give the Sox a 6-0 lead.
The Royals threatened to come back in the game after Gordon broke up the no-hitter in the bottom of the seventh. Giolito was unable to finish the seventh inning as he allowed a run-scoring double to Ryan O’Hearn that scored Gordon and a single from Lucas Duda that scored O’Hearn to cut the Royals deficit to 6-2.
Kansas City would only get as close to a 6-3 deficit after Adalberto Mondesi hit a run-scoring single in the eighth inning. Alex Colome was able to record his first save of the year in the ninth inning to give the Sox their first win of the season.
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The Sox will begin a brief two-game series on the road against the Cleveland Indians starting on Monday. Ivan Nova will make his first start of the season on Monday. The Sox will conclude their series with the Indians on Wednesday and play their home opener on Thursday afternoon against the Seattle Mariners.