Lucas Giolito, Jose Abreu make spring debuts for White Sox

Lucas Giolito

Some notes from the White Sox-Rangers game Tuesday, which ended in a 5-5 tie after six innings:

1. Giolito pitched. After seeing the Sox use nothing but likely minor-league pitchers their first two games, staff ace Lucas Giolito got the start. He went two innings, facing seven hitters, retiring six and striking out four. He gave up a solo home run. Giolito used three pitches -- fastball, change and slider. He threw a fair number of sliders, in fact, but we did not see the 12-to-6 breaking ball he's allegedly been working on. Maybe next time.

2. Abreu played first base. Reigning American League MVP Jose Abreu is out of COVID-19 protocols, and he went 2 for 3 in his first spring appearance. He lined a two-strike single to left field in the first inning, and he also hit an RBI double to left field as part of a two-run rally in the fifth inning. 

3. Vaughn homers. Designated hitter candidate Andrew Vaughn pulled his hands in on an inside pitch and hit a three-run homer to left field in the bottom of the first inning off Texas starter Kohei Arihara. Good piece of hitting by the kid.

4. What's with all this ending innings with two outs crap? I guess you don't have to get three outs in an inning anymore. Three times in this game, the Rangers pulled their team off the field with two outs. In the second inning, the Sox had the bases loaded for Abreu, but I guess Arihara had thrown too many pitches, so the inning was declared over. The Sox also pulled their team off the field with less than three outs twice. So, out of 12 half-innings, five were not played to their completion. No wonder fans were booing. They paid money for that? I know it's spring training, but c'mon, let's play baseball.

5. La Russa hears the boos. For his part, Sox manager Tony La Russa said he took note of the fans' displeasure. “MLB is concerned about the health of the arms, and that’s why they shortened the games, and you can only have so many pitchers and players in camp,” La Russa told MLB.com's Scott Merkin. “There’s all kinds of professional reasons why it makes sense. But fans are paying to come to games. I know they were disappointed, they voiced it several times, so from the White Sox side, we’re going to do everything we can to avoid doing it.” Good. Hope so.

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