The Chicago White Sox defense deserves credit for the no-hitter thrown by Lucas Gioliito.
The Chicago White Sox take a lot of heat for their defense in 2020. It isn’t the best defensive team in the league going right now but they showed that they have what it takes in high-pressure situations on Tuesday night. In order for a pitcher to throw a no-hitter, he needs his defense to help him out big time. Well, they got the job done in a big way to help Lucas Giolito record a no-hitter. There is never a no-hitter without some heart-pounding moments because of a ball put in play and this game was no exception.
Every player in the game deserves major credit for getting this thing done for Giolito. The first player mentioned obviously has to be James McCann. He seems to have this incredible chemistry with Giolito that is hard to recreate between other pitchers and catchers on the team or across Major League Baseball. McCann was as good as you can get as he called the no-hitter for Giolito.
There is also a play that sticks out that the White Sox made that saved the night. On a ball hit up the middle, Tim Anderson was able to make a big play and Jose Abreu was able to scoop it out of the dirt to end the inning. It was great stuff for a team destined to help out their ace. Everything that was hit to someone ended up being fielded and put out.
The final out of the game was a heart-stopper as well. It was a fly ball hit to right field that Adam Engel had to make a nice play on. It feels like destiny because it is no guarantee that their everyday right fielder, Nomar Mazara, would make that catch. Mazara is a fine player but Engel is incredible defensively. This play saved the game on the 27th out and capped off a magical Tuesday night for this ballclub.
Hopefully, this team can use this as confidence going forward. They have some issues on defense but they can rally behind this performance if they get to the playoffs. They can ignore everyone that says they don’t play good enough defense for one night because they did in the biggest regular-season game in most of their careers.