Did you ever think you would see a day when White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito would throw 82 of his 107 pitches for strikes in a game?
Consider this about Giolito's outing Thursday against the Houston Astros: In the second inning, he threw 11 pitches -- all of them strikes. In the fifth inning, he threw nine pitches -- all of them strikes. In the seventh inning, he threw six pitches -- all of them strikes.
Three separate times, Giolito retired the side without throwing a single pitch out of the zone, against the No. 2 offense in the American League.
Is this the same guy who led the AL with 90 walks and 118 earned runs allowed in 187 innings in 2018?
Sure doesn't seem like it, and thank goodness.
Giolito fired a complete-game, four-hit shutout in a 4-0 victory over Houston. He struck out nine, walked only one, and none of the four hits went for extra bases. With the win, the Sox rally to split the four-game series with the Astros, after they dropped the first two games.
Sure, Houston was without George Springer and Jose Altuve. But that lineup still features Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley and Carlos Correa -- three damn good hitters -- and Giolito dominated.
This time, his slider was his best offspeed pitch. He threw it 20 times and got seven swinging strikes. He threw his change 24 times, as well, but the slider seemed to be the out pitch. He still had it working in the ninth inning, too, when he struck out Correa with a nasty one for the second out.
One big key for this turnaround for Giolito: His fastball velocity has returned. Remember, last year he was throwing 91 to 93 mph. Now with his shorter arm action and more compact delivery, his fastball averaged 94.8 mph Thursday and topped out at 97.3 mph.
He still had the heat in the ninth inning, too. I saw a fastball register at 97 in the aforementioned at-bat with Correa.
Giolito's record is now 6-1 with a 2.77 ERA. The traditional pitching numbers are good, as are some of the other numbers people like to look at. His WHIP is 1.058. He's allowed only three home runs in 52 innings pitched. His strikeouts per nine innings sit at 10.2, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 3.11. His FIP is 2.78.
Obviously, we need to see it for a whole season to say that Giolito has truly turned a corner and established himself as a legitimate piece of the starting rotation. However, this early-season performance sure is encouraging, and it's sorely needed.
And with this win over the Astros, he's got a victory over one of the league's elite to his name.
(And, oh yeah, Eloy Jimenez homered for the third time in the series against Houston in Thursday's game. We like to sneak Eloy's name in here whenever we get the chance -- his presence drives up the web numbers. Hey, at least we're not being phony about that mattering.)
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