Giolito matches Bieber, but Sox lose duel of aces originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The White Sox matched the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night — in good ways and bad.
Lucas Giolito and Shane Bieber locked horns in an incredibly entertaining pitcher's duel, two of the top seven finishers in last year's American League Cy Young vote showing why they're among the game's best hurlers. The Indians boast the guy who was the best pitcher in the Junior Circuit last season, and Giolito was just as good on Tuesday night.
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But the White Sox also matched a Cleveland lineup that now lacks Francisco Lindor, a less-than-menacing group that isn't expected to do much damage in 2021. Yes, that was Bieber on the bump. But this White Sox lineup was supposed to be one of baseball's best after being the AL's most powerful a season ago. Eloy Jiménez is hurt, of course, but a still pretty stacked White Sox offense hasn't had a ton of luck swinging it so far this season.
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It all added up to a very entertaining, but in the end very disappointing White Sox defeat, their second extra-inning loss in three days, this one by a 2-0 final score.
Bieber dazzled for nine shutout innings, the White Sox hardly ever mounting a threat. They didn't get a base runner to second base until the ninth. After throwing 86 pitches while cruising through eight innings, Yermín Mercedes' quality pinch-hit at-bat started a 26-pitch ninth for Bieber. But he ended it without a run crossing the plate.
Giolito was just as good, if less efficient. He racked up 101 pitches through seven scoreless frames and departed after walking the leadoff man in the eighth. Giolito punched out eight Cleveland batters while yielding just three hits, not leaving anything to the imagination when it came to figuring out how amped he was during the duel.
"These types of games are the ones that I remember, the ones that I really enjoy," Giolito said. "It kind of brings to mind a start in '19 against (Jacob) de Grom here at home, where it was kind of a similar thing, very close game, going back and forth.
"The way Bieber was pitching tonight, I didn't have to wait in the dugout very long to get back out there. So it was like full go for every inning. We were both putting up zeroes. It's just a battle.
"He looked like he had his best stuff. I wouldn't say I had my best stuff, but I was trying to pitch like I did."
Not that Giolito really needs to provide any further evidence — not after the no-hitter and the playoff perfecto bid — but he showed once more Tuesday night that he's among the game's elite arms. The White Sox will be handing him the ball for Game 1 of however many playoff series they end up in this October, and time and time again, he's proven he's worthy.
Tuesday, he matched Bieber, who might have been the game's best pitcher in 2020. Well, the White Sox have one of the best, too.
"I’ll tell you, man, what you look for first is the willingness to compete. That really is the difference in this game," White Sox manager Tony La Russa said of Giolito. "You saw what Gio will do given an opportunity matched up against one of the best. In the end, that’s what makes the great ones and good ones in this league. ... They compete."
On the other hand, the White Sox are still searching for that best-in-the-game offense. No one expected a couple months ago that a big game against a division rival would feature players like Nick Williams or Jake Lamb in the starting lineup. Though no one thought back then there'd be clamoring for the likes of Mercedes and Zack Collins, either.
Still, the White Sox offense was completely neutralized by Bieber, not that surprising an outcome, considering Bieber's excellence, but still a disappointing one for a South Side group that led the AL in homers and slugging last season and only saw the lineup get better over the winter.
Indeed, it seems these White Sox are badly missing Jiménez. Tim Anderson's on the injured list, too, for a couple more days. But whether failing to cash in on scoring opportunities — a recurring theme in the early going — or not having any scoring opportunities at all, the case Tuesday against Bieber, the outcome is the same.
So when Cleveland scratched across a pair of unearned runs off Garrett Crochet in the 10th, it was a tough loss to stomach. Yasmani Grandal was charged with another catcher's interference error, and both the automatic runner and the one who reached on that miscue came around to score. James Karinchak set the White Sox down in order in the 10th, the South Side offense unable to do anything even after they were free of Bieber.
Asked why the 10th inning featured both Williams and Lamb when he could have called on Collins or Andrew Vaughn off the bench, La Russa offered what probably won't be a popular explanation but one that's hard to argue with.
"It’s simple: Who didn’t struggle tonight on our side?" he said. "Everybody struggled."
Against Bieber, that's no crime. But it's also been a trend for the White Sox in the season's first 11 games. And a team with World Series expectations will certainly have to figure out a way to score some runs off elite pitching because it's all they'll see come October.
The silver lining? It's just 11 games.
"It's not discouraging at all. We've played how many games now? Eleven? There's a lot of season left," Giolito said. "We've got to get some guys healthy. I can't discredit our offense or our defense. Defense was fantastic tonight. Offense, they were trying, it was just against a really, really good pitcher.
"We gave it our best shot, kept it close. In the extra innings, didn't go our way there. But I think the loss tonight, not too much to worry about. We just get back on it tomorrow and try to win a ballgame."
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