Lucas Giolito continues his comeback from a recent leg injury when he starts for the visiting Chicago White against the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.
After missing two starts due to a strained left hamstring he sustained April 17 against the Kansas City Royals, Giolito got a no-decision Thursday against the Boston Red Sox. The right-hander gave up three runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in five innings pitched.
“I felt the fastball was coming out good,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “I was thinking I missed a start or two starts, so I wanted to make sure that in the first inning I had all my stuff under control. … I felt I got better as the game went on, which is good for me.”
Giolito (2-1, 5.32 ERA) will be looking to change his luck against the Indians. He is 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA in two career starts against Cleveland, giving up nine runs in 11 innings.
With Corey Kluber and Mike Clevinger sidelined, Cleveland starter Jefry Rodriguez (0-1, 2.13) will be recalled from Triple-A Columbus to make his third major league start of the season. In two spot starts in place of Clevinger, Rodriguez has given up three runs on eight hits in 12 2/3 innings.
Rodriguez has never faced Chicago. He is coming off a six-inning start for Columbus in which he gave up one run on two hits against Indianapolis.
The Indians will look to bounce back from a 9-1 drubbing in the series opener Monday.
Ivan Nova pitched seven strong innings for his first win of the season and Yoan Moncada homered and drove in four runs for the White Sox, who snapped a three-game losing streak during which they were outscored by the Boston Red Sox 30-5.
It was a good night for the White Sox offense and especially Moncada, who entered Monday with no home runs and two RBIs over his previous 13 games.
“The last few games were more felt for swings,” manager Rick Renteria said regarding Moncada, according to MLB.com. “Definitely today he was actually attacking again. It was evident in his approach from the very first at-bat, obviously.”
Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer gave up a season-high eight runs (seven earned) and 10 hits (tying his season high) while lasting into the sixth inning.
Meanwhile, Nova kept the struggling Cleveland hitters at bay by effectively throwing off-speed pitches when he was behind in the count.
“We’re going to have to start earning getting fastballs,” manager Terry Francona told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Right now, we’re a little bit predictable. Especially when runners get on base, it becomes more glaring.”
The Indians began the day with the lowest team batting average (.211) in the American League.
Carlos Gonzalez’s bunt single in the second inning Monday was his first hit in five May games, snapping an 0-for-16 skid dating back to the final game in April. Jason Kipnis (2-for-5) had his first multi-hit game since April 21 for Cleveland.
“Guys are working,” Kipnis told MLB.com. “There’s gonna be low points in a season like this and you don’t want guys to start pressing too much. You want guys to lock in and focus and play the game the right way. It’ll come around. This team’s pretty good. The fact that we have the record we do, and we don’t really have too many people playing that well, I think shows how good we can be.”