Giolito settles, but Sox can't close early gap
CHICAGO -- Lucas Giolito seemed to find a groove after the first inning of St. Louis’ 5-1 victory over the White Sox in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field, but the Cardinals did more than enough damage in that four-run first to win their first game since July 29.
Giolito needed 34 pitches to get through the first inning, hitting Tyler O’Neill and Matt Carpenter on consecutive pitches to force home the game’s first run. The Cardinals added three two-out runs but would score only one unearned run in the fourth off of Giolito in a frame when the ball never left the infield.
“They put together good at-bats in the first inning,” said Giolito, who has allowed eight first-inning runs over five total starts this season. “I just have to be better coming out of the gate in the first inning, commanding my fastball. I think that will lead to more success.
"I don’t know if I was trying too hard in the first inning, trying to create, or if the energy level wasn’t where it needed to be. I’m going to have to take a look. But yeah, I don’t know. It got better after the first inning, but it has to be better in the first. I can’t put us in a hole there.”
The right-hander finished with four earned runs over five innings, striking out five among his 98 pitches.
The White Sox managed just Danny Mendick’s double and single off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, and added a Luis Robert double with two outs in the seventh. Mendick scored the team’s lone run in the third on Yoán Moncada’s groundout.
“You’ve got to get back to tipping your cap to a guy that's probably commanding better than anybody thought he was going to do with the layoff,” manager Rick Renteria said. “He’s still Adam Wainwright, he did what he’s supposed to do. We just weren’t able to capitalize on any of the few mistakes he might have made during the course of the game.”