In his words, Lucas Giolito's last start was a must-win game for the White Sox. Staring at a 1-4 record and a team pressing for wins, Giolito turned in a terrific start keeping Cleveland off the scoreboard. That victory sparked a turnaround early in 2020 for the White Sox, who haven't stop winning when Giolito took the mound for his third start in Milwaukee. Instead of trying to put the team on his back to finish the losing, Giolito was looking to extend the winning streak to six games to help the team keep pace with the Minnesota Twins.
Opposing Giolito on the mound was the Brewers ace, Brandon Woodruff. A power pitcher in every sense who bombards hitters with his high-90's fastball and slider combination. Another arduous test for the mighty White Sox offense to prove itself.
Giolito had a shaky start to the first inning. Eric Sogard doubled down the right-field line to lead it off, and Keston Hiura walked to put the Brewers in an optimal position to grab the early lead. However, Giolito was able to get the struggling Christian Yelich to strike out on a high fastball, and old friend Avisail Garcia hit into the 5-4-3 double play ending the threat. Huge thanks to Nick Madrigal, who made the quick turn with Hiura breathing down on him.
White Sox offense appeared to have a rally building in the third inning. After Nick Madrigal singled to right field, Luis Robert also singled to center field. Madrigal hesitated because of the line drive and then tried to redline it to third base. Garcia made a quick and accurate throw to nail Madrigal. While the result was already painful, it compounded when Madrigal held his left wrist in pain. On replay, Madrigal's left wrist appeared to get jammed into the infield when making his slide. Danny Mendick took Madrigal's place at second base after the inning.
In the fifth inning, Luis Robert was down 0-2 to Woodruff. Unlike most rookies, Robert once again demonstrated his ability to layoff tough pitches to draw the count full. Woodruff tried to beat Robert with the fastball again but missed his target resulting in a walk. Robert would quickly swipe second for his fourth steal of the season to put himself in scoring position.
Next was Yoan Moncada, who hit a hard line drive right at Hiura, who was playing in shallow right field. The quick throw to first base was just in time to get Moncada out and prevented Robert from rounding third to score. Moncada's liner had an exit velocity of 108 mph with an expected batting average of .730. Abreu would end the inning getting jammed on a weak groundout to shortstop.
While the White Sox offense lacked the critical hit to put runs on the board, the Brewers didn't miss in the bottom of the fifth. Logan Morrison doubled and reached third tagging up on a long fly out that Nomar Mazara made a terrific effort showing an extended range. Even though Morrison was 90-feet away, all he had to do was walk home as Ben Gamel crushed Giolito's hanging changeup for a two-run home run.
Down 2-0, Eloy Jimenez had a loud retort.
After Yasmani Grandal led off with a single, Jimenez destroyed Woodruff's first-pitch slider for a 428-foot home run to dead center. His third home run of 2020, Jimenez's home run, was a bit of deja vu as it was Abreu last night providing the game-tying two-run homer.
Giolito finished his night by striking out Hiura, Yelich, and Justin Smoak in the sixth inning to keep it a 2-2 game. After getting beat up by the Minnesota Twins on Opening Day, Giolito has regained his Ace form. His final line against the Brewers was 6 IP 4 H 2 ER 3 BB 9 K, and Giolito lowered his season ERA to 5.17.
Entering the seventh inning, Abreu again came up with the big hit. Danny Mendick reached on an error from Sogard, who made a nice sliding attempt to stop the grounder but airmailed the throw to first. Now standing at second base, both Robert and Moncada struck out against Brewers reliever Devin Williams.
In his battle against Abreu, Williams threw a cutter that Omar Narvaez couldn't handle and hit the backstop. Mendick moved up 90-feet, which was vital because Abreu hit a sharp liner to left field for a single. If Mendick were still on second, there is a good chance he wouldn't be able to score on the hard hit.
Now up by a run, it was time for the White Sox bullpen to punch in for work. Aaron Bummer continued his dominating run pitching a scoreless seventh inning striking out two.
Jimmy Cordero had eighth inning responsibilities and didn't go quite as smoothly. Missing his target often, Cordero pitched himself into a jam with runners on first and second with no outs. Keston Hiura could only muster a grounder right at Danny Mendick, who started the 4-6-3 double play. Now with two outs and a runner on third, it was up to facing Yelich. On a full count, Cordero froze Yelich 97-mph sinker for the strikeout.
Alex Colome got the ball in the ninth inning and started by getting Avisial Garcia to ground out to Leury Garcia. Justin Smoak worked a full count but swung and missed Colome's cutter that was out of the zone. With two outs, Ryon Healy hit a slow grounder back to the mound. Colome whiffed at fielding the ball resulting in an infield single allowing Omar Narvaez a chance to be the hero.
On a 2-2 pitch, Narvaez hit a single to left field to keep the Brewers alive. With runners on the corners, Colome put himself into a bind, having to face Gamel who homered earlier. Colome won the battle by getting Gamel to ground out to Abreu.
It wasn't an easy last two innings for White Sox relievers, but both Cordero and Colome held on to help the White Sox win their sixth straight game.
Game Notes:
- Luis Robert went 2-for-4 with a walk and stolen base
- Eloy Jimenez had three hits
- The White Sox were 1-for-10 with RISP.
