South Side Hit Pen

From the Locker Room: Lucas Giolito's no-hitter

On Tuesday, the ace became a White Sox legend
From the Locker Room: Lucas Giolito's no-hitter
From the Locker Room: Lucas Giolito's no-hitter

On a balmy night on the South Side, Lucas Giolito became a White Sox legend.

"I knew it was working after the first inning, and then it kept building," an elated Giolito said postgame. "After the sixth, I started to notice what was going on, and after the seventh I said, 'We’re going to make this happen.'"

Not many pitchers can say they've thrown a no-hitter, at any level. But Giolito never doubted himself.

"It’s crazy, man," he smiled. "The weird thing is I always envisioned I’d thrown a no-hitter in the bigs. If you asked in 2018, I’d say 'What the hell are you talking about?' The stars kind of have to align...I knew it was possible. I'm glad we were able to get it done."

With a new pregame routine that involves really building lather in the bullpen and treating warmups almost as a first inning, Giolito was in fifth gear from the start on Tuesday.

"It felt like a typical outing," Giolito said. "I was letting [catcher James McCann] do all the thinking. I’m paying attention, seeing what [Pittsburgh hitters] are doing. [Me and McCann] were really in sync. I had the grip ready to go as he was putting the signs down. 

"I can’t say enough good things about him. He was such a big part of what happened tonight."

Giolito may have been nonplussed for much of the game, but did he notice anything different?

"I did notice guys weren’t really interacting with me too much," he said, smiling.

"And they turned up the crowd noise, I noticed that. That was fun," Giolito said, laughing. "It would have been great to pull that off with fans in the stands. I’m sure a lot of White Sox fans were happy and excited watching on TV. Hopefully, next year we can have more cool games."

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Video courtesy of the Chicago White Sox.


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Brett Ballantini
BRETT BALLANTINI

Actor (final credit: murdered by Albert Einstein in "Carnage Hall"), musician (Ethnocentric Republicans), and Nerf hoops champion, Wiffleball aficionado and onetime bilingual kindergarten teacher, Brett Ballantini also writes about baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey, for the NBA, MLB, NHL, and Slam, Hoop, Sporting News, the Athletic, SB Nation and others. He was CSN Chicago’s Blackhawks beat writer when their 49-year Stanley Cup drought ended in 2009-10, and took over the White Sox beat after that. He currently is the editor-in-chief of South Side Hit Pen and beat writer for Inside the Rays. He also wrote a book about Ozzie Guillén but is running out of space, so follow him on Twitter @BrettBallantini and he'll probably tell you even more about himself than you ever wanted to know.

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