After loss, support for Giolito at '100 percent'

DETROIT -- The White Sox brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth inning of a 6-5 loss to the Tigers on Sunday afternoon at Comerica Park, after trailing by four runs entering their final at-bats.

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Manager Tony La Russa was happy with the continued fight shown by his team, despite going five scoreless innings after scoring two runs in the third against Detroit starter Matt Manning. But he was more focused on starter Lucas Giolito (6-6), who struggled during Chicago's second straight loss in Motown.

“Our concern is Lucas is such a warrior, he doesn’t take well when he doesn’t hold the other squad down,” La Russa said. “So, our support for him is 100 percent.”

Giolito entered Sunday with a 4-1 record and a 2.94 ERA over his past eight starts. The White Sox ace, who lost for the first time in five career starts at Comerica, wasn’t nearly as effective Sunday as he allowed six runs on 10 hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked one, as his ERA rose to 4.20 with one start left, in Baltimore, before the All-Star break.

Raw stuff is pretty commensurate with the past two or three years, in Giolito’s mind, with 22 swings and misses Sunday, per Statcast. There’s just something he feels is missing with his command and putting guys away.

“I gave up a decent amount of two-strike hits even in 0-2 counts, so I have to look at it and pick it apart,” Giolito said. “I don't have a good answer for you right now, but look at the sequencing, the execution of putaway pitches, because I should have had more strikeouts and weak contact, especially in two-strike counts.

“The last couple of years, I was able to get by throwing a lot of fastballs down the middle, throwing a lot of changeups down the middle. Obviously that's changed; that's not working. So I needed to be better [at] commanding my pitches. My slider has improved, my changeup and fastball are all the same, I'm just not throwing it where it needs to be thrown.”

Three of the 10 hits allowed by Giolito came on 0-2 pitches. Two more came in 2-2 counts.

“He got hurt with his changeup today, which is usually one of his excellent pitches. He missed his spot, and they didn't miss it,” La Russa said. “Give them credit, but he kept fighting until the end, which is what he usually does. And I'm not sure what he said [in his postgame interview], but he's just not very happy when he didn't give us a good chance to win."

“Lack of fastball command and changeup command. It looked like they had a good approach against my changeup. I was leaving it up,” Giolito said. “Too many hits, too much traffic on the basepaths; [I] couldn't get anybody out. It was pretty terrible. I gave up six runs. I'm putting our team in a very poor position to win the game, so I'm not doing my job.”

José Abreu did his job with three hits and four RBIs, giving him seven RBIs over four games in July. Tim Anderson collected three hits, scored twice and made a trio of solid defensive plays on grounders in the hole between shortstop and third base.

Anderson and Abreu combined to help produce those three runs in the ninth, with Anderson and pinch-hitter Billy Hamilton singling against left-hander Gregory Soto before Abreu launched his 14th home run to cut the lead to one.

This rally ended when Andrew Vaughn lined the first pitch from José Cisnero to right fielder Robbie Grossman. The loss dropped Chicago to 18-20 on the road this season.

“You are down four and get the go-ahead run at-bat with two outs,” La Russa said. “Andrew put a great swing on that one. If that ball is in the corner somewhere, the score is tied.”

Rookie third baseman Jake Burger completed his first weekend in the Majors with four hits, including his first career triple that came with two outs in the sixth inning.

“It took a little bit of time for me to get my timing down. The first game, [I had] a lot of nerves. Yesterday, felt a little rushed,” Burger said. “Today, I finally felt like it was baseball again.

“My timing felt good, took some tough pitches and put some good swings on the ball. If you would have told me I was going to hit a triple before a home run, I’d call you crazy. I think I’m going in the right direction, for sure.”