Lucas Giolito throws a no hitter, a breakdown
What Happened
Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox dominates the Pittsburgh Pirates, throwing a no-hitter in a masterful performance. Giolito, a 26-year-old right-hander, takes the mound in the bottom of the first inning, immediately showcasing his electric stuff. He works his fastball, changeup and slider effectively, keeping the Pirates' hitters off balance throughout the game. In the first inning, Giolito establishes his fastball at the top of the strike zone, then mixes in his changeup and slider to induce swings and misses. He continues this pattern, relying heavily on his fastball and changeup while sprinkling in the slider. Through the first eight innings, Giolito's command is superb and he is able to work both sides of the plate. The only blemish on Giolito's performance comes in the fourth inning, when he issues a leadoff walk to the Pirates' first baseman, Josh Bell. Aside from that, Giolito is perfect, with his defense making some crucial plays behind him. In the seventh inning, shortstop Tim Anderson makes a nice play on a hard-hit ball and first baseman José Abreu scoops the throw for the out. As Giolito enters the ninth inning, the tension builds. He starts the frame by getting the first two batters to ground out and strike out swinging. Then, he faces pinch-hitter Erik González, who works the count to 2-2. Giolito decides to attack with his slider and González is unable to hold up on the check swing, giving Giolito the final out and completing the no-hitter. "I just tried to stay in the moment and execute each pitch," Giolito says after the game. "The defense made some great plays behind me and I'm grateful for their support." White Sox catcher James McCann praises Giolito's performance, saying, "He was in complete control out there. His stuff was electric and he just kept making quality pitch after quality pitch." The no-hitter is Giolito's first of his career and the 19th in White Sox franchise history. The victory improves the White Sox's record to 29-16, as they continue to assert themselves as a contender in the American League Central division.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentlucas giolito no hit the pirates let's
take a look at it
go straight to the first inning this
one's brought to you by draftkings he's
got the fastball going
works the slider off the fastball right
there similar pitches
he through fastball change up slider
here he's trying to find the top of the
zone with the fastball bam
found it he only threw three pitches all
game another fast ball now he's gonna
work the change up
off of that basically the same pitch but
a different speed
that's gonna be hard to hit 28 batters
faced 101 pitches thrown 74 strikes
19 first pitch strikes everything worked
off the fastball
he was feeling good 47 fastballs 38
change up
16 sliders he didn't really use a lot of
sliders
and then he threw six sliders in the
ninth inning which is kind of crazy
you got no hitter going to just pivot to
that pitch completely
the fastball was prevalent early and
then tapered off the changeup stayed
there
pretty solid all game the changeup was
the pitch
the changeup was rather nasty he was
spotting his fastball but look at this
change up
that one that's a fastball but then he
works the change up right off of it
induces that swing look at that just
tumbling
down into the right here's another one
in slow-mo against bell
just tumbling down really good pitch so
how come this was a no-hitter not a
perfect game
because of this at bat the first at-bat
of the fourth
inning he spikes the first fastball
one and owes the count goes change up
doesn't get the call i think it was a
ball anyway
fastball doesn't find the zone fastball
down four straight pitches
for the walk other than that it's a
perfect game usually you need some good
defense
that's a hard hit ball trying to beat
the shift but anderson comes over makes
the play and abreu with a nice scoop
giolito likes it looks at anderson says
that a baby tim says i got you man
i got you that was in the seventh inning
so that's a nice play
you know it's not the wise catch
it's not an amazing crazy game-saving
play but it's nice
that's a hard hit ball but it finds a
glove and then here's another this is a
routine play that anderson almost threw
away
probably would have just been ruled an
error because you the first hit usually
has to be a legit one is kind of
unwritten rule score keeping so i don't
think that's a hit
and then that pitch that's not a strike
but he gets the call
so you got to get some calls your
defense has got to make some plays
and you got to pitch damn good that
would have been another walk so it
wouldn't have been a hit
that's probably a ball as well that he
gets to call on other than that
it was all him in the eighth inning he
started finding this weird zone
i liked just locked in but like it's
like a mixture of exhaustion
some sort of melody in his head maybe
now we go the top in top of the ninth
ball one ball two uh-oh
gets the call there it's a nice pitch
2-1
nasty change-up for 2-2 and now find the
rhythm
find that zone strike three coming
does he get it on the check swing yeah
umps are gonna give you that
if it's close if it's anything close i'm
still gonna give it to you i think he
went
next batter they pinch hit for the the
catcher and he goes like all
sliders in this that bad he hadn't
thrown a lot all game he hadn't thrown
multiple in the same at bat that much at
all finding that zone
finding that rhythm o2 on two sliders
throws another slider
throws another one in the zone that was
kind of a meatball
that was kind of probably not a great
pitch but he gets the out
now there's one out to go and look at
him just like in
the zone it's kind of cool to watch and
he goes slider again
slider again
fastball oh the expected
hit percentage was pretty high look at
his catcher i love mccann
in it with them both staring what's
gonna happen yeah
let's go yeah
gotta feel good for him i like this too
catchers
and umpires they're the only guys facing
the wrong way they have a respect for
each other it's usually a good game blue
nice job nice share in this area with
you so mccann shouts out the
umpire before celebrating with this
picture classy thing to not forget that
in the midst of it all then you just got
a celebration
you got eloy coming in from the outfield
looking as smiley as ever just jogging
in
chain banging around chest out
he slips and hurts himself and twists
his ankle
and ends up on the ground ooh murphy not
looking happy nor good
jimenez on the ground other than that
what a time
what a celebration geolito no hits the
pirates this one is brought to you by
draftkings
go to draftkings download the app pick
up geolito use promo code john boy just
get him
they'll probably throw another no hitter
and another no hitter and another note
hitter and it's probably just you know
ride the no hitter train
pick up giolito on draftkings look at
them change ups they're nasty