Giolito’s shutout lifts White Sox over Twins

The White Sox’s Lucas Giolito pitched a threehit shutout of the Twins, the second-highest scoring team in the major leagues, racking up 12 strikeouts Aug. 21 in a 4-0 victory for their first series win over Minnesota in two years.

Giolito (14-6) allowed only one runner past first base, a double by Jonathan Schoop in the eighth. The 25-year-old fanned Jake Cave to finish that inning and reach doubledigit strikeouts for the third straight time, the first White Sox starter to do so since Chris Sale did so in eight consecutive turns in 2015. The last right-hander with a streak that long for the team was Edwin Jackson, with three in a row in 2010.

Giolito also matched the Indians’ Shane Bieber for the major league lead with his third complete game this season, though one was a five-inning, rain-shortened contest against Toronto before he blanked Houston with a four-hit shutout May 23. Giolito got there this time with a career-high 115 pitches, without a walk.

The Twins beat the White Sox, 10-3, on July 25, and Giolito gave up seven hits, seven runs and four homers in five innings in that game. Since then, he’s 3-1 with a 2.12 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 34 innings. He said a recent change to his between-starts weight room routine has helped him increase his late-game velocity.

José Abreu went 3-for-5 with two RBI for the White Sox.

NFL

JETS’ COPELAND SUSPENDED >> Jets linebacker Brandon Copeland was suspended by the NFL on Aug. 21 for the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

The 28-year-old Copeland was a key contributor on defense and special teams last year. He has also been used in some starting packages by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and is listed as one of the starters at outside linebacker on the team’s depth chart, opposite Jordan Jenkins.

Copeland was signed by Baltimore in 2013 as an undrafted free agent out of Penn, where he was the co-professor of a financial literacy course during the offseason. He also spent time with Tennessee and Detroit before signing with New York last year.