MLB: The Show Players League — Giolito has his first losing night
Looking to keep his winning streak rolling, Lucas Giolito brought back White Sox play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti to provide commentary GeneralGio's Twitch live stream, and Giolito continued to look to the chat of the stream for all the good vibes.
The playoffs are almost here, and Lucas is looking to secure his spot in the top-eight standings in order to make the postseason.
Game 19: Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago White Sox
Giolito squared off against Blake Snell and the virtual Rays. This game was not live, but it did debut on ESPN2 — so Lucas is receiving the recognition he rightfully deserves as a thoughtful player.
For the game, Lucas went with the sleeveless jerseys, and he pitched as himself. He quickly grabbed two outs, but Snell snagged a two-run home run to grab an early 2-0 lead. However, Lucas was not able to score any runs of his own in the first.
As for the second inning, it was home runs galore. Snell scored a run on an RBI single, but he proceeded to hit not one, but two three-run home runs in the inning to go up, 9-0. Looking for anything to make the game look a little less dismal, Edwin Encarnación launched a two-run shot, so Lucas only trailed 9-2.
Although Lucas escaped the third inning unscathed as he simmered down the home-run bats of the virtual Rays, he could not put up seven runs to tie the game and force extra innings.
With that loss, Lucas snapped a six-game winning streak. His overall record dropped to 13-6, and his home record fell to 7-4. He was looking for better luck for the rest of the night.
Game 20 (Postponed): Chicago White Sox at Los Angeles Angels
Ty Buttrey and the virtual Angels were having some internet issues, so this game has been postponed to a later date. Let's hope this won't turn into another Eduardo Rodríguez and the virtual Boston Red Sox ordeal.
Game 22: Chicago White Sox at San Diego Padres
To officially get the night going, Fernando Tatís Jr. and the virtual Padres sent Lucas and the virtual Sox a game invite. That went against the scheduled order (hence the out-of-order game numbers) but both guys were free to play a game, Lucas accepted the invitation from his (brief) former teammate, and it was go-time.
As per usual, Dallas Keuchel was given the starting nod, and the black-top jerseys were the chosen uniform. The Padres pitched a 1-2-3 inning to open the night, and in the bottom of the first, Keuchel gave up a two-run home run, which is very uncharacteristic of real-life DK and MLB: The Show Players Tournament DK.
When the second inning rolled around, Lucas grabbed two one-out singles, and an out later, he loaded the bases. So, manager-of-the-year Giolito pinch-hit with Encarnación. Just like a few nights ago, EE hit a grand slam to give the White Sox the lead, 4-2!
Aaron Bummer pitched the bottom of the second inning and kept Fernando off of the board. It was time for Lucas to grab some insurance runs to seal the deal.
Yoán Moncada started the inning with a bang, as he hit a no-doubter to center field; he didn't want to snag a close one and hit another centerfielder in the face again, so for the sake of San Diego's center fielders he avoided that, mercifully. The inning continued, and it saw Eloy Jiménez drive in José Abreu, after Pito doubled to put the Good Guys up 6-2. Nomar Mazara grabbed a base hit to load the bases, still with zero outs. Luis Robert singled Nomar home, 7-2. The inning eventually came to a close.
Jimmy Cordero was put in to finish out the game, and Tatís made it close, as he put up a three-spot in the inning. But Virtual Cordero and real Lucas kept the score at 7-5 to close out the victory. As Fernando abruptly ended his stream, Lucas improved to 14-6, 7-2 on the road, and 1-1 on the night. Keuchel improved to an impressive 5-0; he is definitely in the running for the tournament's Cy Young Award.
Game 21: Oakland Athletics at Chicago White Sox
Jesús Luzardo and the virtual Athletics were next on the docket, and this is where the storyline begins to go downhill. Carlos Rodón was given the start, and of course, the black-top jerseys were the uniform of choice, top button popped. After two runners reached base early in the first inning, Los pitched out of the jam. Unfortunately, the Sox could not find any offense in the bottom of the first.
In the second inning, Steve Cishek came on with one out, and a double down the line scored the first run of the game to give the A's a 1-0 lead. Another run scored in the inning, but Lucas was able to throw a runner out at home to keep the damage to 2-0. Lucas saw three quick outs for the White Sox offense in the bottom half of the second.
Luzardo grabbed a grand slam in the top of the third to go up 6-0, and Lucas could not recover in the bottom of the third frame. He dropped to 14-7 overall, 1-2 on the night, and 7-5 at home.
Game 23: Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox
Trevor May and the virtual Twins were the last opponent of the night, and Lucas was looking to split the day. He went with the GOAT, Keuchel, and the GOAT sleeveless home jerseys. It was all good vibes.
Unfortunately, Giolito went down early, 1-0 in the first. After a Trevor May home run in the second, Giolito was down, 2-0. However, Giolito and the virtual Sox found their bats in the bottom of the second Eloy opened the frame on second base after an E-7. Nomar continued to hit through the shift to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Luis Robert singled Eloy home for the first Sox run of the game. After Leury García loaded the bases with a base hit, you already know that Encarnación was brought in to pinch-hit. We were looking for another grand slam, but EE snagged a long sac fly to tie the game 2-2. The inning then ended on a double play.
Trevor May was able to snag two insurance runs in the top of the third, so Lucas had to grab two runs to tie or three to win. With ducks on the pond, a base hit up the middle brought the Sox runner on third home and tighten the game to 4-3. However, Yasmani Grandal was the man on second base; Lucas, focused on each pitch of Luis Robert's at-bat, did not pinch run for Grandal. So on Robert's single up the middle, Grandal was thrown out at home. In even more peculiar fashion than Grandal's rated speed being at 6 (!) was that Giolito did not even touch his controller, but Robert rounded first to go to second, and subsequently, he was thrown out to end the game.
Lucas quote of the night: "I'm not going to practice baserunning because it's boring, and we're playing a video game." -That's my ace
It was a rough night, as Giolito dropped to 14-8 overall, 1-3 for Thursday, and 7-6 at home. However, let's look at it as the 2018 season — and 2019-season Lucas is coming to play this Saturday!
Afterthoughts
Even though the night did not go as planned, Giolito still resides in the top eight (seventh place) of the MLB: The Show Players League, and he has seven games left to the regular season of this competition; Giolito has played all other seven teams in the top eight and has gone 5-2, so don't let his seventh place standing mislead you.
As Sox fans know Lucas, he is more than capable of a bouce-back performance, and he will bounce back this Saturday at 8 p.m. CT. Giolito is scheduled for only two games on Saturday: Matt Carpenter and the virtual St. Louis Cardinals and virtual Cleveland's Carlos Santana. Ty Buttrey and the virtual Los Angeles Angels are already slotted for five games this Saturday, so look tonight's makeup game may have to come a little later in the tournament.
If you wish to watch Giolito live, he streams all of the Players League games on his Twitch channel: twitch.tv/GeneralGio. All proceeds from his Twitch channel are donated to charity: The Orphan Kitten Project. As always, you can expect a live-tweet session from me, as well as a recap right here, on Sports Illustrated!