In another life, Lucas Giolito’s seven innings of two-run ball Sunday might have sealed an All-Star-worthy first half.
The 28-year-old is safely in the American League’s top 10 for innings pitched and wins above replacement, according to Baseball Reference, and his 3.45 ERA is roughly 25% better than league average when adjusted for run environment.
“Two starts I wish I could throw away,” Giolito said. “Other than that, it’s the consistency I’ve been searching for throughout my career.”
“He pitched like an ace,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said.
On winning teams, reliable mid-rotation inning-eaters get considered for honors. On a White Sox team that closed the first half a season-worst 16 games under .500 (38-54) with a 4-3, 10-inning loss to the lowly Cardinals, they get sized up as trade pieces for contenders.
Besides, the team’s lone All-Star representative, Luis Robert Jr., looked pretty deserving while doubling ahead of scoring the tying run in the seventh, before lifting a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth. That both Robert and Giolito’s efforts went to waste felt par for the course. A potential game-saving double-play ball deflected off closer Kendall Graveman’s outstretched glove as the Cardinals knotted the game in the ninth, and Zach Remillard’s self-called safety squeeze attempt went awry in the 10th.
“On the offensive side, we couldn’t get much going,” Grifol said. “We’ve played a lot of tough ballgames, close ballgames. We’ve lost a ton of them.”
“We haven’t been able to get our offense going consistently,” said Elvis Andrus, who had two of the Sox’ five hits. “Everybody was ready for this All-Star break. These days, I think we need it as a team.”
After three straight series losses and a 1-5 homestand, a break from White Sox baseball is welcome for everyone. But Sunday could be a greater line of demarcation than simply the mental “reset” longed for by the players.
With a long road trip opening with the MLB-best Braves awaiting after the break, the next Sox home game is on July 25th. That is close enough to the Aug. 1 trade deadline to ponder whether Sunday was Giolito’s swan song at Guaranteed Rate Field after parts of seven seasons with the White Sox, beginning as one of the tentpole acquisitions of their rebuild.
“I can’t think like that,” Giolito said. “Whatever happens, happens. I made it clear I want to be here.”
For a pending free agent who has repeatedly voiced his desire to stay on hand for a turnaround this season, there’s no benefit for Giolito to looking ahead. And having emphasized a short-term focus since the outset of spring, Grifol is not the sort to zoom out for a broad assessment of the team’s situation either.
But the Sox entered this season with goals that merely began at reclaiming control of the AL Central, and are at the spiritual halfway point in fourth place of a division that lacks a winning team. That sort of shortcoming forces some admissions.
“We’re not where we want to be, we’re not even close to where we want to be,” Grifol said. “Not by any means is this over. We are going to take a break and come back ready to play baseball. We still have baseball to play and we have some meaningful games that I believe are still in front of us.”
Even as a placeholder goal until a very likely deadline sell-off defines the team’s direction, the Sox pointing to still being within eight games of the AL Central lead strains credulity for a team that has not won more than five games in a row all year. But who on the Sox roster responds to that goal could still be telling.
“Nothing better than to regroup these few days, and see how much we want, see how hungry you are,” Andrus said.
“If we were in another division, it would be pretty much over,” said Giolito.
Pretty much, it already is.