Giolito roughed up in 6th: 'It just unraveled'

HOUSTON -- Lucas Giolito didn’t offer up any deep pitching analysis following the Astros’ 13-3 victory over his White Sox on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.

The right-hander was accountable for his rough outing -- or his rough sixth inning, to be more precise -- with a direct postgame statement. The team’s Opening Day starter simply needs to be better.

“This is pretty god-awful. That's pretty much it,” Giolito said. “Third time through the lineup, need to execute my pitches."

Giolito (4-3) had yielded three runs on homers to Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel before the first out had been recorded in the second inning. But Giolito settled down through five, allowing the White Sox (30-32) to tie the game on AJ Pollock’s three-run home run off Framber Valdez in the third.

Then, the sixth inning arrived, with Giolito entering the frame at 67 pitches. He walked Bregman, then Yordan Alvarez ripped a 3-0 pitch to right field for a single, with Bregman going to third on the play and coming home with the go-ahead run on right fielder Andrew Vaughn’s errant throw getting by third baseman Josh Harrison and Giolito.

By the time the inning was through, Houston (40-24) scored 10 runs, capped off by Michael Brantley’s first-pitch grand slam off Matt Foster and long balls from Alvarez and Kyle Tucker. Giolito yielded eight earned runs in five-plus innings, giving him 20 earned runs allowed over his last 20 2/3 innings covering four starts.

Opponents entered Friday with a .320 average and 1.004 OPS against Giolito on pitches 1-25 this season and a .391 average and 1.070 OPS on pitches 76-100. Those numbers played out fairly accurately against the Astros.

“Those middle innings were good; he had those changeups going. Slider was working well, he was locating the fastball decently well,” White Sox catcher Seby Zavala said. “We just kind of lost it in that one inning, got to find a way to get him through that third time through the order. That was one thing we were talking about coming into the game, how we were going to get him through those later innings. Just got to go back to the board.”

“Felt like today, I was building up toward that and then the last inning, it just unraveled,” said Giolito, referring to his tendency to settle in as the game progresses. “Not going to have success falling behind guys. To get out of a situation like that, I need to execute pitches. That's really it. I don't have a lot of analysis. I just need to be better."

Houston manager Dusty Baker managed Giolito in 2016 with the Nationals and didn’t see the same pitcher facing him Friday as he did when Giolito threw a three-hit complete game against the Astros last July 17.

“I think very highly of him. He wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen him,” Baker said. “Like we saw him last year in Chicago, he was really sharp. He almost no-hit us. He had trouble getting his changeup over. A lot of them were up and usually, that’s not him. He helped us by not having his usual control."

“He’s feeling good. He’s pitching all right,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “I think he’s going to be fine. I think he is fine.”

Friday’s setback marked the seventh straight loss for the White Sox in Houston dating back to last season. That run includes two playoff losses, with Giolito starting Game 2 of the 2021 Division Series and allowing four runs in 4 1/3 innings. The White Sox also came into Space City on the heels of a three-game sweep of Detroit at Comerica Park, trying to build momentum behind the slow start.

The White Sox last victory at Minute Maid Park came on May 23, 2019, when Giolito threw a four-hit shutout. The tides haven’t turned in Chicago's favor, as Giolito couldn’t get an out in the sixth on the same night third baseman Yoán Moncada exited the game with right hamstring tightness.

“We played great in the Detroit series, a ton of momentum. Everything was clicking well,” Giolito said. “It's not good to go out there and do what I did, considering. That's really it.

“There [are] obviously improvements to be made. But I have confidence in myself, so I need to keep grinding. I felt like with the mechanical stuff, today was a step in the right direction. When it comes to actually pitching and executing, I need to be better."