Former Angels RHP Lucas Giolito Struggles in First Cleveland Outing, Set to Face Halos Next

This should be an interesting game ahead.

After being placed on waivers last week, former Angels starting pitcher Lucas Giolito was finally ready to make his debut for his new team. He was claimed by the Cleveland Guardians and was brought in to help them try to climb back into the AL Central division race.

Giolito made his first appearance with Cleveland earlier this week, and things didn’t quite go his way. He allowed nine earned runs to the Minnesota Twins over three innings of work.

Lucas Giolito's Cleveland Guardians debut did not go well

3 IP, 9 ER, 7 H, 3 HR, 3 SO, 3 BB, 76 P pic.twitter.com/6F5KlY4Sip

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 4, 2023

This wasn’t the kind of performance that either the Guardians or Giolito were hoping for in this game. Cleveland had an outside chance to get back into contention for the AL Central division, and their series against the Twins this week was a great opportunity to chip away.

Since being traded from the Chicago White Sox, Giolito hasn’t looked the same. He held an ERA of 3.79 over 21 games with Chicago, making him one of the most sought out names at the trade deadline.

But since, he has posted an ERA of 6.89 in six games with the Angels and now this awful start with Cleveland. It’s been a weird trend for the veteran and one that isn’t helping his case for this offseason.

Giolito is scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the season, and he was hoping that some solid performances before the end of the year would be able to boost his value. Now, some teams will still likely offer him a nice deal in the hope of what he can do, but these results have been tough to watch play out.

For now, Giolito is to remain in the rotation for the Guardians despite this outing. He is scheduled to start later this week or sometime this weekend against the Angels. He surely will have that game circled on the calendar, and hopefully for Cleveland's sake, he can perform much better than in his first outing with the Guardians.

Lucas Giolito is scheduled to start on Sunday vs. the Rays. If he stays on schedule after that, he'd next start .. in Anaheim the weekend of Sept 8-10. That'll be a weird one.

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) September 1, 2023

For his sake, hopefully, he can turn things around the rest of the way and at least finish the year on a high note as he heads into free agency.