Helping fuel Lucas Giolito's resurgence is throwing his changeup more often. Since he's increased usage, Giolito's FIP has dropped from 6.13 on July 15 to 5.47 after his last start on August 30.
After a clean 1-2-3 first inning striking out two in just 10 pitches, Giolito fell apart in the second inning. It began with an 11-pitch at-bat from Victor Martinez that ended in a single. After that grueling ordeal, Giolito just couldn't spot the fastball to allow himself an opportunity to mix in more of his off-speed pitches. With the bases loaded and no outs, Giolito allowed a deep fly ball to Grayson Greiner that landed between Adam Engel and Ryan Cordell in the right field gap. Neither took the best route to the ball resulting in a two-RBI double giving Detroit an early 2-0 lead.
I call this "Testicular Torsion." pic.twitter.com/E8WcSoUDgF
— Jim Margalus (@SoxMachine) September 5, 2018
Dawel Lugo made matters worse doubling to deep center driving in two more runs and advanced to third on a fielding error by Engel. Down 4-0 and hitting 50 pitches on the evening, manager Rick Renteria decided that Giolito had enough pulling him for Hector Santiago. Giolito's final line was 1.1 IP 4 H 5 R 4 ER 2 BB 3 K. Santiago didn't fare much better as he allowed an inherited run to score, and allowed an RBI-single to Greiner to make it 6-0 Detroit after just three innings.
White Sox were able to spark a bit of a rally in the fourth inning against Tigers starter, Francisco Liriano. Runners on the corners with no outs after Matt Davidson walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Kevan Smith moved Davidson to third on a single to left field setting the table for Yoan Moncada. After getting two strikes against Moncada using the changeup, Liriano insisted shaking off Greiner and wanted to get the strikeout via fastball. After fouling the first fastball off, Moncada poked the second to right field driving in Davidson to make it 6-1.
Ryan LaMarre struck out for the first out, and Adam Engel should have been the second out on a swinging bunt in front of the mound. However, he would end up getting an infield single as Liriano made a poor throw combined with a lousy job of fielding the throw by first baseman Jim Aducci. Smith scored to make it 6-2, Moncada to third, and Engel advanced to second for Cordell. After striking out in his first at-bat, the 26-year old rookie hit a fly ball to deep right field for a sacrifice fly driving in his first career RBI. After racking up two singles in his first at-bats, Tim Anderson couldn't deliver another hit as he struck out swinging to end the threat.
White Sox pitching calmed down after the third inning as Jeanmar Gomez struck out five batters over 1.2 innings, and Aaron Bummer added two more K's himself. Ryan Burr also picked up a pair of strikeouts but allowed his career first home run to Mikie Mahtook, a two-run shot to push Detroit further ahead, 8-3. Altogether, White Sox pitching struck out 16 batters.
Offensively, the bats went silent after the fourth inning. Ryan Cordell's debut ended 0-for-3 with the sacrifice fly and a strikeout. Anderson was the only White Sox hitter to collect multiple hits going 2-for-4. Both teams are tied again for third place in the AL Central, and it's a tight race with the Padres, Marlins, and Reds to determine slots for the 2019 MLB Draft.
Record: 56-83 | Box Score
