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Chicago White Sox Pitcher Lucas Giolito Throws No Hitter Against Pittsburgh Pirates
Introduction
On Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox pitched a complete nine inning game no hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates with 101 total pitches. In this amazing effort by Giolito, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates with a final score of 4 to 0 at Guaranteed Rate Field located on the south side of Chicago, Illinois.
Lucas’ no hitter on Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 marks the first no no of the 2020 Major League Baseball regular season which has been shortened to 60 games per team due to the coronavirus pandemic. This was the first no hitter in the history of the Chicago White Sox in which the pitcher (Lucas Giolito) completed a no hit effort while recording ten or more strikeouts in the game.
“Giolito, 26, walked one and struck out 13 using a combination of his fastball and his changeup. He produced 30 swing – and – misses, second most in a no – hitter since 1988. His 13 swing – and – misses on his changeup were the most in his career. It was his first career no-hitter,” says Rogers of ESPN.
Just One Blemish Away from a Perfect Game
Giolito was miraculously close to not only no hitting the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he was only one walk away from recording just the fourth perfect game in the history of the Chicago White Sox. He offered a lead off walk to Erik Gonzalez in the fourth inning of the ball game which happened to be the only mistake keeping Giolito from a perfect game. Catcher of the Chicago White Sox, James McCann, called as well as caught Lucas’ no hitter in which Giolito claims he only shook off McCann one time throughout the ball game.
There have only been 23 total perfect games in the history of Major League Baseball. No MLB team has ever thrown more than 3 perfect games in baseball history. The Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees are the only Major League Baseball franchises to have pitched 3 perfect games.
The Complete List of the Chicago White Sox 19 No Hitters
1) JAMES “NIXEY” CALLAHAN
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Saturday, September 20, 1902 (First game of doubleheader)
Chicago White Sox 3, Detroit Tigers 0
South Side Park (Chicago)
(First American League no hitter)
2) FRANK SMITH
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Wednesday, September 6, 1905 (Second game of doubleheader)
Chicago White Sox 15, Detroit Tigers 0
Bennett Park (Detroit)
(His first of two no hitters)
3) FRANK SMITH
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Sunday, September 20, 1908
Chicago White Sox 1, Philadelphia Athletics 0
South Side Park (Chicago)
(His second of two no hitters)
4) ED WALSH
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Sunday, August 27, 1911
Chicago White Sox 5, Boston Red Sox 0
Comiskey Park (Chicago)
5) JOE BENZ
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Sunday, May 31, 1914
Chicago White Sox 6, Cleveland Naps 1
Comiskey Park (Chicago)
6) EDDIE CICOTTE
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Saturday, April 14, 1917
Chicago White Sox 11, St. Louis Browns 0
Sportsman’s Park (St. Louis)
7) CHARLIE ROBERTSON
Chicago White Sox (AL)
pg100Sunday, April 30, 1922
Chicago White Sox 2, Detroit Tigers 0
Navin Field (Detroit)
(Perfect game)
8) TED LYONS
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Saturday, August 21, 1926
Chicago White Sox 6, Boston Red Sox 0
Fenway Park (Boston)
9) VERN KENNEDY
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Saturday, August 31, 1935
Chicago White Sox 5, Cleveland Indians 0
Comiskey Park (Chicago)
10) BILL DIETRICH
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Tuesday, June 1, 1937
Chicago White Sox 8, St. Louis Browns 0
Comiskey Park (Chicago)
11) BOB KEEGAN
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Tuesday, August 20, 1957 (Second game of doubleheader)
Chicago White Sox 6, Washington Senators 0
Comiskey Park (Chicago)
12) JOEL “JOE” HORLEN
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Sunday, September 10, 1967 (First game of doubleheader)
Chicago White Sox 6, Detroit Tigers 0
Comiskey Park (Chicago)
13) JOHN “BLUE MOON” ODOM (5 INN.) / FRANCISCO BARRIOS (4 INN.)
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Wednesday, July 28, 1976
Chicago White Sox 2, Oakland Athletics 1
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland)
(Combined no hitter)
14) JOE COWLEY
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Friday, September 19, 1986
Chicago White Sox 7, California Angels 1
Anaheim Stadium (Anaheim)
15) WILSON ALVAREZ
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Sunday, August 11, 1991
Chicago White Sox 7, Baltimore Orioles 0
Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)
(Wilson throws a no no in his second major league start.)
16) MARK BUEHRLE
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Chicago White Sox 6, Texas Rangers 0
U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago)
(His first of two no hitters)
17) MARK BUEHRLE
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Chicago White Sox 5, Tampa Bay Rays 0
U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago)
(Perfect game, Buehrle’s second no no, and the third time he’s faced the minimum 27 batters.)
18) PHILIP HUMBER
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Chicago White Sox 4, Seattle Mariners 0
Safeco Field (Seattle)
(Perfect game)
19) Lucas Giolito
Chicago White Sox (AL)
Chicago White Sox 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 0
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Guaranteed Rate Field (Chicago)
Giolito’s Major League Baseball Career Comeback
The Chicago White Sox as well as their star pitcher, Giolito, are currently red hot, but they have both recently struggled in the past couple years. In 2018, Lucas had an ERA of 6.13 in a total of 32 starts. That was good enough to label him one of the worst pitchers in Major League Baseball that season with the qualifying amount of pitching required. By 2019, Giolito was selected to the American League All Star team, and now by 2020 he is the ace of the Chicago White Sox starting pitching staff as he has now thrown the 19th no hitter in the franchise’s history.
Media Statements
"I knew it was working after the first inning," Lucas Giolito explained regarding his stuff tonight. "It just kept building and building. After the sixth inning was when I really started to notice what was going on. After the seventh, I was like 'I got six outs, we're going to make this happen."
"He made history in a very old game," says his teammate Adam Engel. "I still can't get over how excited I am for Lucas. I'm still on cloud nine from the game."
"I don't have any words," the Chicago White Sox manager Rick Renteria expressed. "I want to cry."
"It stinks we couldn't celebrate the way most no-hitter or perfect games are celebrated," Engel stated.
"I always envisioned that I'd throw a no-hitter in the big leagues," Giolito proclaimed. "If you had asked me about it in 2018, I probably would have [said] 'what the hell are you talking about?' It's a product of hard work, determination and learning how to trust myself."
"2020 has been a very strange year," Giolito said. "Obviously a lot of weird stuff going on with Covid and the state of the world, so may as well throw this in the mix."
Sources:
“Lucas Giolito tosses shortened season's first no-hitter as White Sox blank Pirates”, Jesse Rogers, espn.com, August 25, 2020.
“Lucas Giolito”, baseball-reference.com, August 25, 2020.
“Chicago White Sox Team History & Encyclopedia”, baseball-reference.com, August 25, 2020.
“Chicago White Sox No Hitters”, nonohitters.com, August 26, 2020.
“Pittsburgh Pirates / Chicago White Sox: Box Score (8 / 25 / 2020)”, espn.com, August 26, 2020.