South Side Hit Pen

Spaghetti and broomsticks: White Sox sweep Tigers in tasty finale, 9-0

Who needs breadsticks? Lucas Giolito nabs his first win at home since June 30 of last year, alongside a deliciously productive offense including home runs from Tim Anderson and Eloy Jiménez

Janice Scurio

Spaghetti and broomsticks: White Sox sweep Tigers in tasty finale, 9-0
Spaghetti and broomsticks: White Sox sweep Tigers in tasty finale, 9-0 /

CHICAGO — Get someone who looks at you like Tim Anderson looks at this broom.

The Chicago White Sox continued their dominance of Detroit with a four-game series sweep, extending the team's winning streak to five games. They now sit 15-11 on the season, a game and a half back of Cleveland in the AL Central standings.

The South Siders just have this Detroit team figured out, it seems. Going into today’s game, the Sox were hitting .278/.326/.541 with a 3.06 ERA, and also have outscored the Tigers, 38-23. 

Going further back, the White Sox are 17-7 vs. Detroit dating to 2019, hitting .312/.363/.516 with 40 homers and 151 runs scored — an average of 6.3 runs per game.

Today was no different — The White Sox outhit the Tigers in today's contest with 12, to Detroit's five. Lucas Giolito went a strong seven innings, giving up no runs, and matching his career high with 13 strikeouts, while Tigers starter Spencer Turnbull's control issues bit early, forcing the early hook after four walks issued over two innings.

There's way more to this game, though, so let's deep dive into the pasta sauce.

Lucas Giolito: The spicy ace

Giolito was suffering a win drought at home, with his last victory coming on June 19 of last year, vs. Minnesota. Though that may be concerning at face value, the confidence he showed today would not have indicated he'd been winless for so long.

Today, the ace brought the heat. Giolito's 13 strikeouts tied his career high; the last time he accomplished this was on August 19 of last year, vs. Oakland. His K/9 for today, is at 16.71. For the season: 11.68. So what made Giolito so spicy, deeming him worthy of this nickname?

The only trouble the righthander seemed to run into was three singles to load the bases in the fourth inning, but he responded by dishing out three strikeouts. What pitches were so effective? Look at these gorgeous swinging-strike punch-outs:

Giolito nabs Miguel Cabrera and Niko Goodrum on the changeup, Christin Stewart on a high fastball.

Today, Giolito was mostly a fastball pitcher, a departure from his usual fast-change combo, with the changeup carefully inserted (as we see in that PitchingNinja GIF above), and the slider sprinkled in. Sequencing was especially important today: Looking at Baseball Savant, Giolito's changeup appeared to be the strike-three pitch for his 13 strikeouts.  

This overlay, also done by PitchingNinja, demonstrates how Giolito's fastball and changeup are identically deceptive: 

In addition, Giolito was quoted in his last start as saying that giving up runs in the first inning is unacceptable (he coughed up four in the first on August 15 vs. St. Louis). Today he faced the minimum through three innings, and afterwards he ascribed that to treating his bullpen as the first inning of the game, getting into a lather early so the first pitch of the game was really just the start of the second or third inning in his mind. 

This is the kind of growth and adjustment we need to see from an ace pitcher. Giolito's final line? Seven scoreless innings in 110 pitches, with three hits and a walk against those lucky 13 Ks. Lucas' ERA is down to 3.89, FIP at 3.23. 

Breadsticks and Broomsticks: Tim Anderson is having spaghetti for dinner, again

As long as Detroit pitching keeps bringing the meatballs, Tim Anderson will keep eating the pasta. In the fourth inning, TA found a Tyler Alexander slider on 2-2, and launched it 350 feet for his sixth home run of the year. Anderson finished his day going 2-for-5, and shows no sign of turning the stove off anytime soon. 

Going into today, Anderson owned a .322/.359/.503 slash with 18 doubles, 10 homers, 32 RBI and 55 runs scored in 70 games against the Tigers. 

Anderson’s wRC+ is now at 217, as he heads into the Crosstown Series with a .379/.414/.758 line.

Jose Abreu: offensively hot, defensively hotter

Content is unavailable

José Abreu continues to mash, going 3-for-5 today including a double in the first inning off Spencer Turnbull. Abreu ended up scoring after a force at second allowed Nomar Mazara to reach base safely. 

Abreu then knocked a RBI double in the eighth inning, scoring Anderson and Yoán Moncada, widening the lead to 7-0 and Joe Jiménez. Abreu's other hit was a single in the sixth inning. RBI force Abreu now has 19 runs driven in for the season.

He still appears to have improved defensively, pulling off a slick 3-6-3 double play with a slick pick of the ball and throw to second to nab Niko Goodrum, making it back to first in time to complete the play.

According to Abreu's numbers, his defense has, in fact improved: In 2020, he's touting a DRS of 3, compared to a 2019 DRS of -8. 

Based on this stat alone, he's having the best defensive year of his career; the only other year Abreu had a positive DRS was 2017, when it was 2. 

Perhaps it's time we talk about Eloy Jiménez and James McCann

Eloy Jiménez is 10-for-31 (.323) with four HRs and nine RBI in his last seven games; today he continued the production with three hits in his four at-bats, including this monster home run in the eighth inning, while I was still typing my notes from Abreu's RBI double prior.

James McCann played an integral part in Giolito's victory today, as they've worked closely together in the past, and you could even see the careful concentration Giolito exerted as he looked for McCann's signs. 

Case in point: McCann, knowing Giolito was at his pitch limit in the seventh and sensing the Tigs would be drooling for meaty fastballs, McCann called nine straight changeups — yes, nine — to get Detroit to swing out of their stirrups. 

"I'm going to make them hit it before we change," McCann said he told Giolito in the dugout after the ... unique ... sequence.

McCann helped his battery-mate out today at the dish as well, with two hits in four at-bats, including a single in the first inning that scored a run to help put the White Sox up, 3-0. He then singled in the third inning off Alexander, and was driven in by a Danny Mendick double, pushing the score to 4-0. 

Ricky Speaks

Manager Ricky Renteria actually didn't have a lot to say postgame. He seems to be a little down in the dumps lately, ironic given the winning streak. He did say he was looking forward to having a lot more fun at Wrigley Field in 2020 than he's had in past years, though!

Watch Ricky's postgame comments, courtesy of the White Sox:

Looking ahead

Giolito's performance today was downright inspiring to see, as he's reasserted himself as a strikeout pitcher. This team is fun and exciting to watch and cover, and the next series should be just as much of a treat.

Tomorrow, the fabled Crosstown Classic returns to Wrigley Field with control specialist Dallas Keuchel on the mound. Keuchel has had a monster of a year so far; his 3-2 record that does not rightfully tell how wonderful he's been. The North Siders send lefty Jon Lester (2-0, 2.74 ERA) to the hill in response.

You can catch tomorrow's 7:15 p.m. CT game on NBC Sports Chicago, or on the radio at WGN 720. 

Until then, be sure to practice your game face.

Published
Janice Scurio
JANICE SCURIO

A reputable baller after being the only girl on her middle school's basketball team, and a librarian that worked in public libraries in Texas and Wisconsin, Janice Scurio (@ballerlibrarian) is no longer a baller, nor a librarian. Chicago born-and-raised, Janice spent her high school years slinging White Sox hats and jerseys at the ballpark, and has many fond memories of Jon Garland making fun of her. Beyond being SSHP's resident LOOGY, she enjoys writing about comedy, technology, food, and travel.

Home/Games