Perfect start for White Sox, Giolito
Lucas Giolito, above, released a brief yell of delight and marched quickly back to the dugout, his work day going just brilliantly for the White Sox. Giolito simply dazzled in his postseason debut, stymieing the Athletics through six perfect innings and sending the White Sox to a 4-1 victory in the opener of their best-of-three AL wild-card series Tuesday in Oakland, California. “Unreal. Unreal to watch. Unreal to be behind him,” White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson said of Giolito. It brought back memories of Giolito’s no-hitter against the Pirates on Aug. 25. On Tuesday, he didn’t allow a baserunner to the AL West champions until Tommy La Stella’s single up the middle to start the seventh. Giolito gave up one run on two hits over seven innings, struck out eight and walked one before giving way to Evan Marshall after a stellar 100-pitch outing. Alex Colome, the White Sox’s third reliever, worked the ninth for a save to close out the 2-hour, 53-minute game. Giolito got plenty of support: Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer and Adam Engel also connected for the White Sox. Yasmani Grandal homered in the eighth. The White Sox chased A’s starter Jesus Luzardo in the fourth inning. Now, the A’s must win Game 2 on Wednesday to avoid another early playoff exit. The A’s are in the postseason for a third straight year. They lost in the AL wild-card game each of the last two seasons after recording 97 regular-season wins both times. They advanced just once during their 11 previous playoff trips since 2000, reaching the 2006 ALCS before being swept by the Tigers.