The Chicago White Sox came into Wednesday’s finale against the Toronto Blue Jays looking to sweep them. It would have been nice after being swept in Toronto earlier this season butthey couldn’t do it as they lost by a final score of 9-5.
They were mostly unable to win because of a bad start from Lucas Giolito. He is supposed to be one of their best starters but he was anything but on Wednesday. He gave up seven earned runs on 11 hits. He also only had three strikeouts.
His stuff isn’t as good as we know it can be. His velocity and command are way off his average and it is costing him ballgames. The month of June has been a problem for him which has been a problem for the White Sox.
Giolito’s bad stretch doesn’t erase the fact that he has been one of the American League’s best pitchers since 2019. In 2019, he came in 6th place for the American League Cy Young Award. In 2020 he came in 7th and in 2021 he came in 11th. He needs to get back to that level.
Lucas Giolito was not good enough for the Chicago White Sox to win the game.
The White Sox offense woke up but it was too little too late. They also brought the tying run to the plate but both Josh Harrison and Leury Garcia came up short. Tony La Russa seemed to give up on the game when it was 9-2 despite the White Sox offense looking explosive lately.
It is a shame but it is what it is. Now at 33-34, they have the Baltimore Orioles coming to town for four games. Winning this series would go a long way in their playoff hopes. They can take a lot away from what made them successful in this series vs Toronto.
Luis Robert has been just phenomenal lately. He is looking like that MVP-caliber player we all pegged him to be before the season began. He is healthy and hitting the ball hard. If he keeps this up, the White Sox will win a lot more than they lose.
Andrew Vaughn is also someone to keep an eye on going forward. He enhanced his case to be an American League All-Star even more in this series. With Tim Anderson back, Vaughn playing like this, and Robert ascending, this offense is dangerous.
There are other good starters on this team like Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, and Johnny Cueto but Lucas Giolito needs to be much better for the Sox to get the most out of this group.
Hopefully, he learned something from this that will help him going forward. The White Sox were unable to sweep the Blue Jays but they took a big step with this series win. Now it is time to keep the momentum going.