'Tip your cap': Bucs no-hit by ChiSox's Giolito

With Lucas Giolito one out away from completing a no-hitter, Erik González admitted he was a little mad when he stepped to the plate in the ninth inning Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field. González drew a walk in the fourth inning -- the only reason Giolito wasn’t within one out of perfection -- and he was determined to hit something as hard as he could.

“I didn’t want to be part of history,” González said afterward.

González smacked Giolito’s 0-2 fastball into right field with an exit velocity of 102.6 mph, the second-hardest hit ball put in play by the Pirates all night. Racing in on the line drive, Adam Engel had to veer to his left and nearly tumbled over as he caught the final out of what, indeed, turned out to be history.

The Pirates were no-hit by a dominant Giolito in a 4-0 loss to the White Sox, striking out 13 times, with only the walk by González standing between Giolito and a perfect game on the South Side of Chicago.

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It was the first no-hitter of the 2020 season and the Pirates’ first time being on the wrong end of a no-no since June 20, 2015, when Max Scherzer carried a perfect game into the ninth inning.

“We saw one of the best pitchers in the game have a performance of a lifetime,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “You tip your cap.”

• Every no-hitter in Major League history

That was all the Pirates could do afterward. They didn’t come particularly close to touching Giolito, the All-Star right-hander they once sought from the Nationals in trade talks involving Andrew McCutchen after the 2016 season.

The ninth-inning line drive by González was their best chance, statistically, with an .850 expected batting average.

“It was well-hit and low, so I know I had to come in. It was a decently easy read,” Engel said. “I got a good jump and tried to run through the baseball, like all the reps I’ve taken out there, and made the catch. Incredible feeling, seeing Giolito just accomplish that feat.”

Pittsburgh only put one other ball in play with an exit velocity over 95 mph, and it came when Yoán Moncada snared a Josh Bell line drive to end the fourth inning. Tim Anderson and José Abreu also teamed up to make an excellent play on Bryan Reynolds’ groundout in the seventh inning, the token highlight-reel gem found in every historic pitching performance.

“When you throw no-hitters, you have to have plays like that,” Shelton said.

But Giolito and catcher James McCann did most of the work themselves.

The Pirates whiffed on a whopping 30 of Giolito’s 101 pitches, including 13 of the 38 changeups he threw. Shelton, the former hitting coach who was on the receiving end of a handful of no-hitters in Tampa Bay, watched Giolito closely the last two seasons while he was Minnesota’s bench coach. Based on the way the right-hander’s changeup was moving on Tuesday, he knew by the fourth or fifth inning the Pirates were witnessing something special.

“Just really good stuff tonight. When you have the ability to go 95 [mph with the fastball], which he did tonight, and then you come back and go 76, 77, 78 with probably one of the best changeups in the game -- if not the best changeup in the game -- it makes it difficult,” Shelton said. “He executed. You’ve got to give him a ton of credit.”

Giolito’s gem was the 13th no-hitter pitched against the Pirates, with only seven of those coming since 1900. The last time they were no-hit, Jose Tabata was hit by a pitch before Scherzer could complete a perfect game, but Scherzer still finished off a no-hitter at Nationals Park.

Cincinnati’s Homer Bailey threw a no-hitter against Pittsburgh on Sept. 28, 2012, at PNC Park. Between 1955 and 2012, they were only on the wrong end of a no-hitter once: the lone no-no of Bob Gibson’s legendary career on Aug. 14, 1971.

The Pirates’ only baserunner on this night was González, who worked a four-pitch walk to lead off the fourth inning. It was the first walk drawn by González all season and, in fact, just his 19th walk in 501 career plate appearances. That walk was the only thing that stood in the way of Giolito’s pursuit of the 24th perfect game in Major League history.

“He missed a couple pitches. He threw me a changeup, too, but he missed,” González said. “I was looking for it a little bit up, and he threw me down. When I got to 3-0, I was thinking, ‘I want to wait for one strike.’ He walked me.”

Nobody else reached base for the Pirates all night, and the White Sox had already given Giolito a comfortable lead by capitalizing on Steven Brault’s lack of command. After working 12 scoreless innings in his first four starts, Brault couldn’t consistently find the strike zone on Tuesday night, as he gave up four runs on five hits and four walks over three innings.

But that was not the story of the night for the Pirates, who could be in for a busy week as they approach Monday’s Trade Deadline as clear sellers at 7-18 to start to the season. While their pitching has been depleted by injuries, their lineup has been exposed as a more pressing concern.

Pittsburgh had reason to hope things were turning around after putting up 24 runs during a three-game sweep of Milwaukee over the weekend, but the club is now hitting just .221/.277/.349 with a Major League-worst .626 OPS.

The Pirates shrugged off their contribution to history as just another loss, no different than if they’d banged out 10 hits and lost, 4-3. All they could do was credit Giolito and hope for better on Wednesday afternoon.

“He had his best stuff tonight, and he was very, very good. It was pretty cool to see,” Brault said. “Obviously it sucks, but at the same time, that’s baseball history right there. Good for him.”