Giolito's no-no caps wild run for White Sox

CHICAGO -- It’s been a pretty interesting nine-day ride for the White Sox, as this young team has transformed into a contender.

This stretch includes back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs hit against the Cardinals in the fifth inning on Aug. 16, a game the team entered with a 10-11 record. The White Sox took a series from the National League Central-leading Cubs, hitting 12 home runs over three games, with José Abreu launching two home runs on Friday and adding his first career three-homer game on Saturday.

Lucas Giolito's no-hitter on Tuesday more than capped things off -- at least for the time being for a team that has much higher aspirations.

“We get lost in history with a no-hitter,” said catcher James McCann, who was behind the plate for Giolito’s masterpiece. “But if you look at what our team is doing as a whole, we're on pace to have a pretty darn good 60-game season.

“And as fun as [Tuesday] was, as much as I'm going to relive [Tuesday] for, really, the rest of my life, we have to get back to work and continue to grow and continue to mature as a team to get to the ultimate goal. And that's the playoffs and then the World Series.”

Manager Rick Renteria espoused the same sort of notion during a Wednesday Zoom session while focusing on the team handling the spike of emotion brought about by Giolito’s performance.

“I just expect that we are looking at it as a view, a vantage point of, hopefully, this is what we are going to be continuing to do over what’s left of the season,” Renteria said. “Just continue to play good baseball. Try to have and do things that will help us win ballgames on a daily basis.

“Again, it’s no secret when talent meets preparation and execution, good things happen. Hopefully, the consistency in which we are looking to move forward the rest of the season is still there, and we are able to move forward as an organization.”

Jiménez ready for action

There was a brief injury scare in the middle of the no-hitter celebration involving Eloy Jiménez, who sat on the ground near the mound for a few minutes while being checked by Renteria and assistant athletic trainer James Kruk. But despite twisting his ankle, Jiménez was in the lineup on Wednesday.

“He was jumping around, and he noticed he might end up landing on [Edwin] Encarnación's foot and tried to deviate, tried to make a little special move to deviate from landing on his foot, so he ended up twisting his ankle a little bit,” Renteria said. “They treated him last night, he came in this morning, went through the rigors. He did not want to be out of the lineup. He got checked out and was treated, ran, did everything he needed to do out on the field for us to be comfortable with him being out there, and he's ready to go.

“You see people hurt their knees in celebrations and things of that nature, and I thought that's what it might be. But as it turned out, it was actually just a small twist of the ankle because he was trying to avoid somebody else's foot. I guess he had the wherewithal at least in celebrating to know where he was landing and ended up trying to avoid hurting somebody else.”

He said it

“There’s a lot of season left and so many things to accomplish for the Chicago White Sox, but it seems like you’re seeing those stepping stones to help you believe these young men are moving in a really positive direction.” -- Renteria

“She said a friend texted her about it in the later innings and she threw her phone away, she was so nervous. But I texted her and said that I knew that I was in control and that I was going to get through it. Texted her I love her, all that stuff.” -- Giolito, on his first postgame text, to his wife, Ariana