Lucas Giolito will try to rebound from his worst start of the season when the visiting Chicago White Sox attempt to avoid being swept in their three-game series against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday in Minneapolis.
Giolito (6-6, 3.96 ERA) is a free agent in 2024 who has been the subject of numerous trade rumors approaching the Aug. 1 trade deadline.
The 29-year-old right-hander allowed eight runs on six hits — including three home runs — in 3 2/3 innings in an 11-10 loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday.
Despite the poor start, Giolito is expected to attract strong interest at the trade deadline. He reportedly is on the radar of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles.
The eight earned runs allowed in Tuesday’s loss to the Mets matched the total Giolito permitted in five starts for the entire month of June. He also walked five on Tuesday, the second most he has surrendered in a start this season.
“I clearly didn’t have it tonight, and it hurts because the whole team came in to play,” Giolito said after his performance versus the Mets. “I mean, we battled all the way back. I just didn’t have feel and I didn’t make adjustments. I got exposed.”
Giolito is 8-9 with a 3.88 ERA in 22 career starts against the Twins. He has done well at Target Field, where he has compiled a 5-3 record and 3.20 ERA in 11 career starts.
Right-hander Bailey Ober (6-4, 2.74) will start on Sunday for Minnesota, which improved to 7-2 after the All-Star break with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory on Saturday.
The 6-foot-9 Ober has won two of his past three starts, including a 10-3 victory at Seattle on Tuesday in which he yielded three runs on seven hits over six innings while striking out five.
Ober is 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA in eight career starts against the White Sox.
The Twins trailed, 2-1, entering the bottom of the seventh in Saturday’s contest before igniting a rally.
Byron Buxton drew a one-out walk and stole second before Kyle Farmer reached on an infield single to start the comeback against Chicago reliever Keynan Middleton. Christian Vazquez belted what he thought was a three-run homer off Gregory Santos but the ball hit the padding on top of the left-field fence and landed back on the field for a double. Buxton scored on the play to tie the game.
“In that situation, they need a ground-ball double play, and he had a good sinker, a hard sinker,” Vazquez said. “So I was looking for that sinker middle-in to drive it into the air.”
Michael A. Taylor twice squared to bunt to try and squeeze Farmer in with the go-ahead run against the hard-throwing Santos. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat however, Taylor lined a fastball into center field to drive in what proved to be the game-winning RBI.
“That’s just a massive at-bat,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
–Field Level Media
