White Sox: Giolito stifles the A’s in postseason debut
The Chicago White Sox ace was locked in to get the White Sox a postseason win.
Lucas Giolito was dominant from start to finish for the Chicago White Sox. He tossed seven innings of shutout ball with eight strikeouts, no walks, and only one hit given up. He only needed 60 pitches to get through the first 15 batters. He had great command throughout the game with great movement on his fastball, which left the A’s guessing all afternoon.
Giolito gave up his first hit to Tommy La Stella in the seventh inning but remained unfazed as he proceeded to strike out the next two batters. He turned it over to the bullpen in the eighth inning after giving up his first walk and second hit of the game. Evan Marshall allowed Mark Canha to score, a run that was charged to Giolito. That was the only blemish on an overpowering performance.
The offense provided some thunder knocking the A’s starter Jesus Luzardo out the game in the fourth inning. Adam Engel opened the scoring with a solo shot to left field. Jose Abreu added to the lead with a three-run homer to center field in the third inning. The ball left Abreu’s bat with an exit velocity of 104 mph and went 412 feet. Then, Yasmani Grandal joined the home run parade with a line drive that cleared the left-field wall to extend the lead to 4-0.
Aaron Bummer and Alex Colome slammed the door to give the Sox an impressive 4-1 victory. The majority of the roster was getting their first taste of postseason baseball but you would not know it by watching them. They looked cool, calm, and collected and cruised to an easy victory.
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Dallas Keuchel will take the ball for the White Sox tomorrow as he looks to wrap up the series. The A’s best pitcher, Chris Bassitt stands in the way of the White Sox moving onto the ALDS. Eloy Jimenez did not start in today’s game and he still remains questionable to play in Game 2. One win down 12 to go.