MINNEAPOLIS — In what may have been his last start in a White Sox uniform, Lucas Giolito demonstrated why he should be a coveted addition before the Aug. 1 trade deadline Sunday by pitching five scoreless innings against the Twins at Target Field.
Then the Sox demonstrated one more time how painful this season has been, blowing a three-run lead in the ninth and getting walked off in the 12th in perhaps the most brutal of their 60 losses (against 41 wins) of the season to complete a three-game Twins sweep.
“It is what it is. It sucks though,” Giolito said.
“Tough. Tough series. Not much else to say.”
Giolito struck out nine, surpassing career strikeout No. 1,000 in the process. He gave up six hits and three walks and hit one batter, which hiked his pitch count to 101, but pitched out of trouble in four of his five innings.
Giolito, 29, becomes a free agent for the first time after this season and will probably command the kind of contract the Sox have never been willing to do for a pitcher.
“I’m cool with it. Whatever happens, happens,” Giolito said after the game. “Same thing I’ve been telling you. It’s not really on the forefront of my mind when it comes to when I’m here and I’m getting ready to pitch and I go out and pitch. I’m just going to do my job just like any other year, any other day. That’s it. That’s my mentality. See what happens.”
Giolito’s next turn with the Sox would be Saturday against the Guardians. The deadline is the following Tuesday. Giolito was followed by three relievers who could be on the trading block, too. Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his return from the injured list with elbow inflammation, Reynaldo Lopez pitched two perfect innings with two strikeouts before Graveman gave up three runs in the ninth.
Ryan Jeffers’ two-out RBI single against Jesse Scholtens in the 12th, after the Sox got a shortstop-to-home-to first double play with the bases loaded and no outs started by Tim Anderson, put the nail in the Sox’ sixth loss on a nine-game road trip.
“This one really hurts,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “Three-nothing lead in the ninth against these guys, this one stings a little bit.”
The first-place Twins (53-48) lead the Guardians by three games in the AL Central, their largest margin in more than five weeks. The Sox are a season-low 12 games out.
All was well until Graveman suffered his fourth blown save in 12 attempts. Lefty Alex Kirilloff hit a tying RBI double with righty Donovan Solano on deck. Grifol said he trusted his pitcher to do his job and passed on an intentional walk, not wanting to put the winning run on base.
“No. Solano is a contact guy,” Grifol said. “I know he struck out four times, but he puts the ball in play. I like that matchup out there.”
It marked the 14th time the Sox took a lead into the seventh inning or later and lost. They are 4-9 in extra-inning games.
They led 3-0 on homers by Eloy Jimenez and Zach Remillard against Bailey Ober and Remillard’s RBI single. Grifol wasn’t enamored with Remillard trying for a bunt single with a runner on second in the 12th, and no one loved seeing right fielder Oscar Colas fall after a perilous route coming in to make a catch on a Kyle Farmer’s short fly, allowing the tying run to score after Anderson doubled home a run in the top of the 10th.
Colas did have three hits, and he threw out Max Kepler at home trying to score on a single in the second.
None of the good stuff matters as much on days like these, in seasons like these.
“If you dissect this game, we had a lot more opportunities than they did to put this game away,” Grifol said. “We’ve got to find a way to have that killer mentality to where we’re going to put people away, put teams away.”