CHICAGO -- Lucas Giolito didn't think his actions on Friday night warranted his first career ejection.
But the big right-hander understood why home-plate umpire Gabe Morales made the decision to toss him, even after he had been removed from the White Sox 9-2 loss to the Giants at Guaranteed Rate Field.
"Yeah, I didn't think I said anything to warrant an ejection," Giolito said. "I just wanted to kind of let him know I thought he missed some calls throughout the night. But to a certain extent, you have to stand up for yourself. Just said one too many things."
Giolito was headed toward the third-base dugout after walking Hunter Pence on a 3-2 fastball which appeared to be in the zone. If that 3-2 pitch was called a strike, Brandon Crawford was an easy out attempting to steal second base, and the inning would have been over.
Instead, Pence walked, Crawford moved to second and Buster Posey raced home from third on what was ruled a fielder's choice. That important moment produced Giolito's parting words to Morales, eventually leading to the right-hander rushing forcefully toward Morales after being issued the ejection.
White Sox manager Rick Renteria quickly raced from the mound, where he had replaced Giolito with Aaron Bummer, to try to diffuse the situation, while Giolito was moved away from home plate. Renteria continued the argument until crew chief Eric Cooper also tossed him.
Renteria now has seven ejections this season and 13 for his career.
"Obviously, [Giolito] was sharing his thoughts with the umpire, with Gabriel," Renteria said. "'Coop' was doing a great job trying to keep me in, to be honest. It didn't happen. It's just like anything: A pitcher in the heat of the battle, he's walking off the hill, was sharing some of his emotion."
After allowing one run and striking out 14 over 14 innings in his last two starts combined, Giolito allowed five runs (three earned) over 5 1/3 innings Friday. He struck out five and walked four, but his exit ended up being almost as noteworthy as his fourth White Sox start.

"Basically, I just told him that I wish he would have worked me a little bit better, but that's about it," Giolito said. "I felt like I threw a few pitches that were clearly in the strike zone that he called balls throughout the night, especially the last one."