Giolito, Sox 'hungrier for more' after 2021

CHICAGO -- There was no official pact forged between Lucas Giolito, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty while teammates at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles years ago concerning support for each other if one of the three was pitching in the World Series while the other two were out of action.

“It was just assumed,” said Giolito during a 30-minute Zoom session on Thursday.

So, there were Giolito and Flaherty at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night, watching Fried dominate over six innings during his Braves’ 7-0 World Series-clinching victory over Houston.

Giolito, the White Sox ace, and Flaherty, the Cardinals’ No. 1 hurler, definitely would have preferred to be competing in Game 6 of the World Series -- or Game 2 or Game 3, for that matter. But on this night, it was about Fried and the strong bond of friendship between the three.

“We're all very close, me, Jack, Max, and we support each other over the course of the season, through texting and stuff like that, checking out each other's games and talking about pitching and whatnot,” Giolito said. “If one of us makes it to the biggest of stages, it's just assumed the other two are going to do whatever we can to be out there to support.

“I'm super happy we were able to get out there and see it live. It's a lot better than sitting at home on TV.”

Giolito’s original plan was to attend Game 2 to watch Fried, but he ended up testing positive for COVID-19 with his wife, Ariana, and couldn’t get on a flight. Giolito, who is fully vaccinated, said the symptoms were very minimal and both he and his wife are now “totally fine.”

“We got eliminated, spent one or two days in Chicago, flew home and, within a couple of days, Ari was under the weather,” Giolito said. “We both got tested, she was positive, and I was not. But I live with her and sure enough, I was positive [soon after]. We took care of ourselves, had our quarantine period and luckily, it was over before Game 6. The vaccine helps a lot, I highly recommend it.

“I was so worried the Braves were playing so well that they would close it out at home, and I wouldn’t be able to see Max do his thing. He got his turn at redemption and did great in Game 6 -- he’s a hero.”

That Minute Maid Park playoff atmosphere was not foreign to Giolito, who allowed four earned runs on three hits and five walks over 4 1/3 innings during a 9-4 loss to the Astros in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. Houston took out the White Sox in four games, ending a successful 2021 campaign marking Chicago's first back-to-back playoff appearances in franchise history and its first AL Central title since 2008.

Watching Fried strike out six over six scoreless innings, after escaping a first-and-second, nobody-out situation in the first, only fueled Giolito’s fire to help the talented White Sox move deeper into the postseason in 2022.

“Even though I was in a right-field suite, kind of feeling the energy in the stadium, especially as the Braves kept piling up runs and Max kept having quick 1-2-3 innings and seeing the stadium go from super loud in the beginning to deflated, that was fun to be a part of,” said Giolito of his World Series experience. “That’s one of my favorite things as a pitcher on the road, is seeing the whole place shut up.”

Giolito praised his White Sox team for working through numerous key injuries and still staying together and successful in the managerial return of Tony La Russa, who also earned the hurler’s plaudits. It was a “fantastic” regular season, per Giolito, leading into a disappointing playoff run potentially producing future benefits.

“Guys like myself and some of the other younger guys, the postseason experience we had up to that point was a three-game series the previous year with no fans,” Giolito said. “So, going into the hostile environment in Houston and kind of feeling that energy, getting used to, OK, this is what the playoffs [are] like, a completely different animal.

“Unfortunately, we just didn’t get the job done, but we faced a very, very solid team. We definitely did not perform how we wanted to, so that was a letdown, but that’s just more motivation. Every single guy that was part of that postseason run for us learned something, and it’s something that’s going to continue to drive us and make us hungrier for more.”