White Sox 4, Guardians 1: Giolito shuts Cleveland down

Largely due to outstanding performances by Lucas Giolito, Tim Anderson, and Gavin Sheets, the White Sox (15-14) got their first win of the season against the Guardians (15-15).

This game was a pitchers’ duel for quite some time, as starting pitchers Lucas Giolito and Cal Quantrill held the opposition scoreless through four innings. The biggest scoring opportunity for either team during those first four innings was the bottom of the second, when the White Sox were at the plate. Luis Robert and Yasmani Grandal hit back-to-back singles to open that inning. Those hits set the South Siders up with a chance for a big inning. However, three consecutive fly outs by Gavin Sheets, AJ Pollock, and Adam Engel resulted in a scoreless inning.

The White Sox scored the first run of the game for either team in the bottom of the fifth. Surprisingly, the White Sox broke through after they started the inning with two outs and nobody on base. Josh Harrison doubled to keep the inning alive for Tim Anderson, who came through with an RBI single.

In the sixth, the White Sox added to their lead. Robert started the excitement with a one-out single. Then, with two outs, Robert collected his sixth stolen base of the season to put himself in scoring position. As it turned out, though, there was no need for the stolen base, as Gavin Sheets drove in a pair with his second home run in as many games.

Meanwhile, Giolito was terrific, only allowing two Guardians to reach second base during his first six innings. Both of those mild scoring opportunities were wiped out by double play ground balls. The only hiccup of his outing occurred when Monday’s villain, Josh Naylor, launched a solo home run in the top of the seventh. That trimmed the South Siders’ lead to two, but Giolito still had an excellent line. He finished after seven innings, only allowing one run on six hits, he struck out five, and he only walked one.

The White Sox quickly got that run back when they scored in the bottom of the seventh. Engel led off that inning with a single, and he advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Harrison. Then, Anderson came through with an RBI double to extend the lead back to three. Anderson led all batters in this game with three hits, and after tonight, his slash line is an excellent .347/.377/.535 (173 wRC+).

The relievers took care of the rest. Unlike Monday’s game, when the arm barn imploded, the relievers held the lead rather easily. José Ruiz, Bennett Sousa, and Kendall Graveman combined for two scoreless innings to close the game out. The Guardians’ biggest opportunity in the last two innings was in the top of the ninth, when they had runners on first and second with two outs. Then, Andrés Giménez hit a ground ball to first. José Abreu fielded the ball and took it to the base himself, and Giménez was ruled safe on a close play. However, after review, the call was correctly overturned, and the game was over.

The White Sox will be back in action tomorrow afternoon against the Guardians. As usual, NBC Sports Chicago will televise the game, and WMVP 1000 AM will have the radio coverage. Vince Velasquez and Aaron Civale, a pair of right-handed pitchers, are the probable starters. That game will start at 1:10 p.m. Central. We will see you then.