Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito completed the first no-hitter of his career and the first one of the MLB season in a 4-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.
Giolito allowed just one base runner and it took him only 101 pitches to finish the game, finishing with just one walk, no runs, no hits, and 13 strikeouts. Amazingly enough, he did it all with just three pitches. He threw a four-seam fastball 47 times, a changeup 38 times, and a slider 16 times.
The no-hitter was the 19th in the history of the Chicago White Sox franchise and the first for the team since Philip Humber pitched a perfect game in 2012. And his 13 strikeouts were the most ever in a White Sox no-hitter and it tied Giolito’s career-high.
Giolito said that he didn’t allow himself to even think about the possibility of a no-hitter until after the seventh inning. In the eighth, he had a talk with catcher James McCann and went over the pitches he was going to throw to made sure that they were on the same page so that he could close out the last two innings in the same fashion as the first seven.
The pitcher has been a huge part of the White Sox’ successful rebuild. They are currently 18-12 on the year and in second place in the American League Central.
