White Sox: Lucas Giolito had an okay second-to-last start

Lucas Giolito’s second-to-last start of the 2022 Chicago White Sox season came on Thursday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins. He has had a terrible year by all accounts but has been a little bit better in recent games.

He is looking to finish strong and be ready for 2023. It shouldn’t be considered a lock that he plays for the Chicago White Sox next year but he is going to play somewhere and he wants to pitch well to end this dreadful year. He has certainly been a little better down the stretch.

In this Thursday afternoon start, he was okay. His first-inning struggles continued in this one as the best hitters on the Minnesota Twins got the best of him for two runs. From there, he didn’t give up another run.

Giolito ended up going 5.0 innings where he gave up those two runs on four hits and three walks. He also had six strikeouts. His ERA is now down to 5.00 which is bad but certainly better than what it has been all year long.

The Chicago White Sox needs Lucas Giolito to be much better in 2023 if he stays.

He will have a chance to get that ERA under five in his final start next week against, yes you guessed it, the Minnesota Twins. He will have the mound in the second-to-last game of the season on Tuesday. Having a strong finish in that game will mean a lot to him and the team.

Obviously, this is going to be a big off-season for Lucas. He is probably going to be reconfiguring his mechanics which will require changing his body type a little bit back to the way that it was.

He has been trying to do it mid-season which is incredibly hard but there have been slight improvements. During the offseason, he can put all of his focus into getting himself back to his old ways without having to worry about a start every fifth day.

Still, finishing strong is clearly important for a competitor like Lucas. He dealt with some contract issues during the offseason but you can bet now that the White Sox will absolutely not commit to him long-term after this disastrous season.

It was nice to see him finish this game out okay but he has a long way to go before he regains that form that made him elite from 2019-2021.