MLB: The Show Players League — Lucas Giolito pitches a no-hitter ... as Lucas Giolito

Lucas Giolito is getting better and better with each and every outing during the MLB: The Show Players League. Once again, the White Sox ace was joined by the iconic White Sox play-by-play announcer, Jason Benetti on Lucas's Twitch channel.

Game 9: Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox

Looking to take first place in the AL Central, Lucas Giolito was ready to take down Niko Goodrum and the virtual Detroit Tigers. Feeling the energy, Giolito opted for the '99 sleeveless Sox jerseys for the home game, winning the Twitch stream's chat's hearts!

Giolito says he wants the sleeveless jerseys back, and says “we should have 8 jerseys” to choose from in a season #MLBPlayersLeague
— Ashley Sanders (@Ashley22Sanders) April 18, 2020

Gio González was slated for his first start of the tournament.

Top of the first, Gio(lito) (human) and Gio (virtual) pitched a scoreless first, as they worked around an early error. Bottom of the inning, Giolito blasted a three-run home run to center field off of Eloy Jiménez's bat. This was Eloy's second home run of the tournament, and it was the third homer for the virtual White Sox.

The second inning very quickly tested Giolito's mistake from Dallas Keuchel's almost-perfecto on Wednesday night. A dropped third strike occurred, and Lucas was ON that circle button; a runner was on first, so there was no need to push it, but I applaud Lucas' anticipation and ability to learn from his past mistakes. That's an ace mentality!

Goodrum could not score a run, so to start the bottom of the second inning, Giolito brought in Edwin Encarnación to "hit a nuke." Sure enough, psychic Giolito followed through and delivered a parrot trot around the bases! Another run scored in the inning, so Giolito and the virtual Good Guys were looking to lock down a back-to-back home win.

Jace Fry was brought into the game to get the job done, and get the job done he did! Lucas won his first game of the night, 5-0, now sitting at 2-3 for his home games. More importantly, Giolito is 6-3 overall and has overtaken Goodrum and the virtual Tigers for first place in the AL Central! It's all about momentum and good vibes.

Game 10: Chicago White Sox at Seattle Mariners

For his second game of the evening, Lucas was scheduled to face off against the former Cub, Carl Edwards Jr., now of the Seattle Mariners. Looking to avenge himself for losing against the Cubs on Wednesday, Giolito came out swinging.

Tim Anderson led the game off with a single up the middle, and a wild pitch moved TA7 over to second base. José Abreu hit an RBI double, so Lucas was up early with a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Giolito sent a baserunner on mistake, but Edwards Jr. committed an error of his own, so Giolito's aggressive send turned into a run to increase his lead to two.

Lucas Giolito went to virtual Lucas Giolito as the pitcher for the game. Testing the real-life Gio once again, a dropped third strike occurred, so as fast as lightning, Giolito hit the circle button and secured the out. Ace in real life and in the game, the Giolitos kept the Mariners scoreless.

As for the second inning, both offenses came up empty, but the Sox were still up 2-0. Looking for a few insurance runs in the third, Giolito hit a bomb with Yoán Moncada, and it became home runs galore for tonight's games. A few errors scored a few more runners, and Nomar Mazara got underneath a ball, but that baseball kept sailing until it found the right-field stands. Real-life Giolito called it unfair, but he took a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the third.

Virtual Lucas Giolito pitched a scoreless third inning to secure the no-hitter! Even though Lucas was on top of that circle button early, a hit batter in the second kept Lucas from the perfect game.

Giolito sat at 2-0 on the night, continuing a perfect 5-0 road record. Overall, he was 7-3 with the virtual White Sox.

Game 11: Boston Red Sox at Chicago White Sox - Postponed

Eduardo Rodríguez was nowhere to be seen online, so Giolito and the virtual White Sox had their first postponement of the tournament. Giolito was ready to play and wanted the forfeited "W," but as of now, this game will be rescheduled for a later date.

Game 12: Chicago White Sox at New York Yankees

Giolito was set to face Tommy Kahnle, former White Sox and current Yankee. Giolito was looking to keep his perfect road record alive and end the night at a perfect 3-0.

With a single to begin the game, "TA7 [was] 3-for-3 in his opening ABs" (Jason Benetti). However, after a half inning of play, the Sox did not cross home plate.

Lucas went "with DK the GOAT" (Giolito) to pitch this game. As routine as it has become, Keuchel pitched a scoreless first. Giolito could not find any runs to cross the plate in his half of the second inning, but Kahnle hit a long ball in his half of the second to open up the scoring.

Trailing 1-0 in the third inning, TA7 snagged a one-out single, and YoYo gapped an RBI double to right-center field to score Anderson and tie the game at one.

Aaron Bummer was tasked to keep the game scoreless in the third and force extra innings, and Bummer was up to the task.

Giolito entered his first extra-innings game of the MLB: The Show Players League, and he was ready to win it. Out of all people, Leury García went yard to snag the 2-1 lead in the fourth! We love Leury Legend.

For the bottom of the fourth, Alex Colomé came onto the scene to record the save and earn the win. However, a runner singled, and a following million-pitch at-bat ended in a walk. The third batter of the inning reached a full count and fouled off a few pitcher's pitches to ultimately hit a walk-off home run to end the game.

Giolito was not happy, and I was not either. A few pitches were fouled off that should not have been able to, but Giolito was more disappointed that virtual Colomé's cutter was not the same as real-life Colomé's cutter. It was a disappointing way to end the night, but Giolito went 2-1 overall. Even though his perfect road record was snapped at 5-1, he holds a very solid 7-4 overall record.

But Giolito knew it should have been 8-3. On the bright side, the White Sox still sit in first place in the AL Central; Trevor May and the Minnesota Twins are right behind Lucas with a 7-5 record. As for the whole league, Giolito and the virtual White Sox are eighth overall.

Afterthoughts

Giolito appeared on MLB Network's postgame show for a few minutes. When asked how he felt when he threw a no-hitter as himself, Lucas responded with a "it was pretty cool." That's my ace. Of course, they discussed the walk-off Yankees victory. Giolito was a bit miffed, as he did not want to go away from the Sox's real-life closer. He defended the real-life Colomé, but he admitted that he will have to pick someone else to close future games and slot Colomé into second-inning relief.

Overall, it was a very entertaining stream. If you would like to re-watch the stream or catch Lucas when he is live, he can be found at twitch.tv/GeneralGio. All money made off of his channel goes to charity.

Giolito will play again on April 20. He is scheduled for three games: Josh Hader and the virtual Milwaukee Brewers, Joey Gallo and the virtual Texas Rangers, and Jon Duplantier of the Arizona Diamondbacks. I am speculating a fourth game will be added against Boston to make up for tonight's postponement.

As always, I will live-tweet the tournament, and you will find a recap right here on Sports Illustrated.

A little fun fact to close out the night:

We are leading the league with a 4.09 ERA! #MLBPlayersLeague
— Ashley Sanders (@Ashley22Sanders) April 18, 2020