The Chicago White Sox did much better against the Toronto Blue Jays than some thought they would. However, errors, ineffective pitching situations, and a somewhat stale offense caused them to lose the game.
The White Sox might have had the edge in this game but they are human after all and made some mistakes that easily cost them the win.
Some of the mistakes came from pitcher Lucas Giolito. Giolito got the start and even though he began the game well, he struggled through the rest of it and ended up having to get pulled in the fourth inning after suffering a pretty significant breakdown.
The numbers tell us the story of a pitcher that didn’t have his best game against an elite offense. Giolito pitched a total of four and a third innings and allowed eight hits and six total runs. All six of them were earned runs. There were two home runs against him and he walked two batters.
On the plus side, he had eight strikeouts. Giolito threw a total of 99 pitches and 59 of those were strikes. He faced 24 total batters.
Lucas Giolito did not look like himself at all during Tuesday night’s game.
It was interesting to listen to some of the commentaries by announcers Jason Benetti and Gordon Beckham about how they thought that Giolito looked fatigued and didn’t look like his regular self. Beckham thought that it may have had something to do with the covid illness that Giolito recently had.
Giolito didn’t look quite right on Tuesday that is for sure. There was a period of time in the middle of the game where it looked like he just gave up and started throwing a lot of balls. That could have been fatigue or something else.
The White Sox needed near perfection out of everyone in order to beat the Blue Jays Tuesday night and they just didn’t quite get it. It was thought that Giolito would be able to hold the Blue Jays off while the offense (which is notorious for struggling) attempted to score runs.
The offense actually had a decent night, despite some mistakes, and kept up with the Blue Jays. Had Giolito not had the breakdowns he had, the White Sox may have won this game and improved their record and their chances of trying to catch up to the Minnesota Twins.
Hopefully, Giolito gets some rest and is able to pitch again the next time his spot in the rotation comes up. The team needs to have him ready to go and ready to contribute because he’s one of their best pitchers and someone they rely on to win games. He’s very important to the White Sox’s success.