TheChicago White Soxtook Game 1 of their series against the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.
The final score, 3-2, showed just how important pitching was to decide the contest.
Clarke Schmidt had a solid start for New York, but Lucas Giolito s performance gave his team the victory.
Plain and simple.
Tonight marks the second time this year Lucas Giolito of the@whitesoxhas pitched 6.0+ innings & finished with 0 hits allowed. He s the first MLB pitcher to do that twice before the end of June since the Reds Johnny Vander Meer did so with his back-to-back no-hitters in 1938, OptaSTATS tweeted.
Tonight marks the second time this year Lucas Giolito of the @whitesox has pitched 6.0+ innings & finished with 0 hits allowed.
He’s the first MLB pitcher to do that twice before the end of June since the Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer did so with his back-to-back no-hitters in 1938. pic.twitter.com/NEzMYnsxvn
OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) June 7, 2023
Giolito walked three hitters, but surrendered no hits or runs over six very good innings.
His ERA for the season decreased to 3.75, and with the way he has been throwing the ball in recent games, it will likely keep that trend.
He has every motivation to put up some impressive numbers, since it s a contract year for him: he will be a free agent after the World Series.
His 4.28 ERA indicates that Giolito might not be an ace, but he doesn t need to be one in order to cash in a nice contract.
He just needs to show he can consistently get MLB hitters out and keep that 2023 ERA below 4.00 and, ideally, in the mid-3.00s.
For a night, however, he looked like an ace.
The Yankees just couldn t figure him out.
He is also a potential trade candidate if the White Sox fall out of contention near the deadline.
They are currently 4.5 games out of first place in the AL Central.
Will we see Giolito with another uniform in a month or two?
It ll be an interesting storyline to follow.