Lucas Giolito (finally) slays the Guardians

Lucas Giolito

Monday night's loss to the Cleveland Guardians was probably the worst one the White Sox have endured in nearly six years. (Think May 28, 2016, in Kansas City.)

If nothing else, the fan base needed a win Tuesday night, because we might have all slit our wrists if we had to watch another game like Monday's.

Fortunately, Lucas Giolito (2-1) came up with his best outing of the season so far, and the Sox beat the Guardians, 4-1.

Final line for Giolito: seven innings pitched, allowing one run on six hits. He struck out five and walked only one. Josh Naylor hit a home run off him in his seventh and final inning, but by then, the Sox already had a 3-0 lead, so no harm, no foul.

Giolito generated 11 swings and misses and got 23 called strikes out of his 91 pitches. That means 37% percent of his pitches fell into the category of either a whiff or a called strike.

The league average at last check was 27%, and I always say if a pitcher is about 30% in that department, that's a strong performance.

The game remained scoreless until the fifth, when the Sox finally solved Cleveland starter Cal Quantrill (1-2). Josh Harrison doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Tim Anderson.

Gavin Sheets added a two-run homer, his third of the season, in the sixth inning to make it 3-0. After the Naylor homer, Anderson's RBI double in the bottom of the seventh scored Adam Engel, who had singled. That brought the score to 4-1. Anderson was 3 for 4. He's now hitting .347.

Jose Ruiz and Bennett Sousa combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning. Closer Liam Hendriks was given the night off -- he had pitched six of the past eight days, and after five consecutive saves, he contributed greatly to the meltdown on Monday night.

That gave Kendall Graveman a chance for his second save of the season, and he converted -- albeit not without some drama. Graveman got the first two batters out before a walk and a single brought the tying run to the plate.

Andres Gimenez grounded out to Jose Abreu to end the game. It was a bang-bang play at first, and Gimenez was initially called safe. However, the Sox challenged the call, and it was overturned for the final out.

The Sox are 15-14, and they have their first win against the Guardians in five tries.