Lucas Giolito beats former high school teammate Jack Flaherty in high-profile pitching matchup

Lucas Giolito

Sometimes marquee pitching matchups don't live up to the hype, do they? Tuesday's game between the White Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals featured a pair of aces who are former high school teammates -- Lucas Giolito for the Sox and Jack Flaherty for the Cardinals.

Flaherty entered the game with an 8-0 record, but he didn't make it out of the fourth inning in this one, as the Sox secured a series victory with an 8-3 win.

Giolito (4-4), who has been off to a slow start this season, got back to .500 by pitching six innings of two-run ball. Only one of the runs was earned. He struck out five and walked none, while allowing six hits.

The St. Louis defense committed three errors behind Flaherty, and in fact, the Sox scored two runs in the first inning without the benefit of a hit. They added three more runs in the second inning on just two hits.

Jose Abreu hit his 10th home run of the season off Flaherty in the bottom of the fourth. It was a two-run shot to make the score 7-2, and it was part of a four-RBI night for the Sox first baseman.

Final line on Flaherty: 3.2 IP, seven runs, only three earned, on six hits. He struck out three and walked two.

The Sox took their 8-3 lead into the ninth inning, but of course, the leaky bullpen made it interesting. Garrett Crochet gave up a leadoff double to Yadier Molina and walked two batters to load the bases with nobody out.

That forced Tony La Russa to bring Liam Hendriks into a save situation. The Sox closer struck out all three batters he faced to strand the three runners and earn his 10th save of the season.

The Sox go for the sweep Wednesday afternoon with Carlos Rodon on the mount. John Gant will pitch for St. Louis.