Giolito utilizes 'angry' pitching to his advantage

KANSAS CITY -- Lucas Giolito might have been the only person at Kauffman Stadium Tuesday night who didn’t mind the two-hour rain delay prior to a 4-2 victory for the White Sox over the Royals.

“I think it was a bonus for me pitching at 9 [p.m. CT] at night because I’m a night owl,” said a smiling Giolito after improving to 2-2 on the season. “So, I was right at home.”

Royals starter Jordan Lyles (0-6) threw a complete game on 112 pitches and retired the first 11 White Sox hitters before a long, game-tying home run from Luis Robert Jr. in the fourth. But an aggressive Giolito, pitching a little angry after giving up a first-inning home run to Vinnie Pasquantino, was as impressive as he’s been all season.

Giolito struck out nine over six innings, allowing two runs on five hits. His four-seam fastball topped out at 96.6 mph and his average fastball was up 1.5 mph to 94.3, according to Statcast. His stuff simply sounded as if it was at a higher level without even looking at the numbers.

“For me, pitching angry can go one way or the other and tonight we were able to channel that into aggression in the strike zone,” said Giolito, who recorded six swings and misses each on his four-seamer, slider and changeup. “Try to work ahead of guys and just fire it in there. It worked out well.”

The toughest inning for Giolito came in the sixth, when Bobby Witt Jr. tripled to right and Pasquantino dropped a single to left cutting the deficit to 3-2. Giolito walked Maikel Garcia and MJ Melendez to load the bases with one out and went 2-0 on Hunter Dozier before retiring him on a popup to shortstop Elvis Andrus.

Andrus snared Freddy Fermin’s hard-hit grounder and turned it into an inning-ending fielder’s choice at second.

“In that sixth, when we got the bases loaded, he executed. He didn’t miss any spots,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He was right at the top or just above the zone with the fastballs, kept the breaking balls just below or right at the bottom. He really executed there.”

“Really, just trying to trust myself to execute a fastball at the top of the zone,” Giolito said. “Got the popout. From there, really get that focus on each individual pitch: Execute this pitch. Whether I did or didn’t, forget about it. Move on to the next one. It’s so huge in those moments.”

Kansas City put the first two hitters on base in the fifth, but Giolito struck out Fermin, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Nate Eaton on a combined 14 pitches. Since giving up seven runs on 12 hits over four innings on April 7 at Pittsburgh, Giolito has a 2.33 ERA over his last six starts.

All six of those starts have been with Seby Zavala behind the plate.

“We go over stuff prior very well. The days leading up to it, we share notes. We are constantly talking about the lineup that we’ll be facing,” said Giolito of working with Zavala. “Hitters' tendencies, where my strengths will play.

“Where to kind of hide the weaknesses I might be having. We get a really good game plan to where I go out there and there’s no second guessing.”

Andrew Vaughn’s fourth home run of the season gave the White Sox a 3-1 lead in the sixth. Joe Kelly, Reynaldo López and Kendall Graveman made that advantage hold up, as the White Sox (13-24) moved to 6 1/2 behind the Twins atop the American League Central.

Yes, it’s just May 9, and White Sox manager Pedro Grifol preaches going one game at a time, let alone one series at a time. But he knows there’s work to be done in a winnable division.

“We can’t continue to dig ourselves an even deeper hole. We have to make a move here soon,” Grifol said. “We’ve had opportunities to do that. We just have to take advantage of them. The key is to continue to play hard, get our guys healthy and when we get them all healthy, stay healthy.”

Grifol also picked up a victory against the organization where he worked for 10 years. But more importantly, the win kept the White Sox in line to win a third straight series.

“That's our goal. To win every series, that's our goal,” Grifol said. “Obviously that's hard to do, but we've got an opportunity now.

“To win a Major League game is tough. I'll take them anywhere."