Tim Anderson knows the look.
When Lucas Giolito gets into one of his zones, Anderson said the White Sox pitcher is entering his “bully stage.”
The Sox desperately needed an enforcer Tuesday to kick-start their postseason after two stomach-churning weeks saw them drop from the top seed in the American League to No. 7.
Giolito was up to the task, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning and dominating the Oakland Athletics in a 4-1 win in Game 1 of the wild-card series.
It was vintage Giolito.
He didn’t take their lunch money or give them wedgies, but his stellar performance gives the Sox a chance to grab the best-of-three series Wednesday with Dallas Keuchel on the mound.
So what is it like being in the “bully stage”?
“It’s like when things start to sync up, the brain kind of shuts off and it’s like tunnel vision to the glove,” Giolito said Tuesday afternoon in a teleconference. “When I hit that state, I just want to ride it out as long as possible. That’s pretty much it. I like that he calls it that.”
The stakes could not have been higher for the Sox, who played without slugger Eloy Jimenez and were in danger of blowing all the goodwill they built up over the first 1 1/2 months of this pandemic-shortened 60-game season.
Adam Engel’s solo home run in the second let everyone on the South Side of Chicago exhale, and when Jose Abreu smoked a two-run shot in the third, that old, familiar feeling suddenly was back again.
Giolito said he was nervous Monday night, though Keuchel said his friend was much more relaxed than before his opening-night start against the Minnesota Twins, which did not go well at all.
“I really do think that opening-day start has helped him,” Keuchel said before Game 1. “Last night, just talking to him a little bit at dinner at the hotel, I couldn’t really get that (nervous) vibe that I got before opening day.
“So I think he understands himself even more so, and that’s a good sign for us. Until we see what goes on at 12 (Pacific time), you never know. But I’d put my money on Gio to be more relaxed and do his thing today.”
Good bet. Giolito looked so relaxed he could have floated, and he certainly did his thing, retiring the first 18 batters. He recently received a commemorative ring from Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf for his no-hitter in August, and it appeared as though Reinsdorf might have to make another trip to the jeweler.
But Tommy La Stella — of course it would be Tommy La Stella — singled to start the seventh, breaking up the no-no and taking the pressure off Giolito to join former New York Yankee Don Larsen as the only pitchers to throw a perfect game in the postseason. Larsen threw his against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.
Giolito said he had a “different feel” than during his no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates because the Sox are in the postseason now and all that mattered was the win.
“If a perfect game or whatever happens, it happens,” he said. “But it was not on my mind.”
With a 4-0 lead in the eighth, the Sox removed Giolito after a four-pitch walk and a single. Evan Marshall and Aaron Bummer got the Sox out of the inning with only one run scoring, and closer Alex Colome shut the door in the ninth.
“It was a good ballgame for the Chicago White Sox,” manager Rick Renteria said.
And it was a good ballgame for Renteria, who spent the first seven innings with no decisions to make. Giolito was cruising, the Sox had a relatively comfortable lead and all he had to do was make sure Giolito didn’t tire. He had thrown a career-high 119 pitches in his final regular-season start against the Cleveland Indians, which raised some eyebrows because of the curious timing.
“A question was, ‘Would his last outing affect this one?’ ” Renteria said. “Obviously it didn’t.”
Obviously.
Renteria said he sent out three lineups to players Monday night because of the uncertain status of Jimenez, who has missed four straight games with a sprained right foot. The one Renteria eventually went with included Yasmani Grandal as the designated hitter, Engel in right field and the return of Leury Garcia in left.
No Edwin Encarnacion. No Nomar Mazara.
It was almost as if Renteria finally surrendered to the longstanding beef of Sox fans who have been clamoring for Encarnacion and Mazara to grab some bench since August.
And it worked. Pat yourselves on the back, Sox fans.
NBC Sports Chicago analyst Frank Thomas, who played for the A’s after leaving the Sox, said on the pregame show the ball flies in Oakland during day games. That turned out to be prescient, as home runs by Engel, Abreu and Grandal accounted for all of the Sox runs. Anderson, meanwhile, was his old self again with three hits, sparking the offense as he did all season until the end.
“As Timmy goes, we go,” Renteria said, borrowing a phrase last used in Chicago for former Cubs spark plug Dexter Fowler.
Giolito admitted he’s not a “morning person,” but he liked the early start because he didn’t have time to think about it. The Sox play another day game Wednesday, with their most experienced postseason pitcher in the role as designated bully.
Somehow, all of the worries of the last week disappeared when the Sox reported to work Tuesday morning. It was a brand-new day.
“This is the real season,” Keuchel said. “At the same time, all of us in there are calm and collected and actually having a lot more fun at 9 a.m. than I ever thought we would.”
The reboot has begun, and it will be televised.
———
©2020 Chicago Tribune
Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.