White Sox ace Lucas Giolito threw a no-hitter on Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 4-0 White Sox victory. Giolito faced 28 batters allowing just one walk on 101 pitches. The White Sox best pitcher struck out 13 Pirate batters after he struck out 13 Detroit Tigers in his previous start. Giolito becomes the 19th pitcher in White Sox history to throw a no-hitter.
It was already a night to remember at Guaranteed Rate Field early on as the White Sox broadcast was knocked off the air due to a power surge at the ballpark that caused fans watching on TV to miss a portion of the second and third innings. When the game came back on, Giolito was still in control as he allowed just one walk to Pirates’ shortstop Erik Gonzalez which occurred to start the 4th inning. Gonzalez was the last out to seal the no-hitter as he flew out to White Sox right fielder Adam Engel.
The historic night for Giolito is especially remarkable given his unbelievable turnaround from being statistically the worst pitcher in baseball in 2018 to one of the best pitchers currently. Last season, he was named an All-Star and finished sixth in the Cy Young voting. Following an offseason of retooling and adjusting before 2019, Giolito’s success over the last two seasons has been reinforced by catcher James McCann who has caught the pitcher the past two seasons, calling the pitches.
Giolito’s no-hitter on Tuesday night is the first White Sox no-hitter since Phillip Humber’s perfect game against the Seattle Mariners in 2012. It is the first true no-hitter since Mark Buehrle’s back in 2007 against the Texas Rangers. Last week the nation was drawn to the White sox offense due to their historic home run power, this week the focus will be on their ace in Giolito as he records the first no-hitter, and possibly the only no-hitter of 2020.
