Lucas Giolito’s tenure with the Los Angeles Angels has not started off the way he or the team had hoped. He holds a 6.67 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 27 innings over five starts despite having completed six innings three times in that span. But Phil Nevin finally saw a glimpse of what Giolito can bring on Tuesday.
The former Chicago White Sox starter had arguably his best outing as an Angel against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night. He tossed six innings and allowed one earned run (four total) on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. The strikeouts and earned runs are both his best since joining the team.
And although an error by first baseman Nolan Schanuel resulted in his 10th loss of the season, there was plenty to like from Giolito’s start. Nevin, in particular, was happy with the demeanor he saw from the veteran starter when things weren’t going his way, according to Jeff Fletcher of The O.C. Register:
“He threw the ball great,” Nevin said. “Efficient with his pitches. He gives up the homer in the first and you know you can go sideways from there, but you can just see a different demeanor in him today. Kind of a bulldog mentality. For most of that game we’re thinking he’s gonna get deep here, with a doubleheader tomorrow it’s gonna help us with the ’pen. Just didn’t work out that way.”
Giolito was less excited about his own performance, saying that he struggled to do what he believes is one of his best attributes as a pitcher.
“I like to take pride in stranding runners and trying to pick up teammates but unfortunately didn’t get the job done there,” Giolito said.
Players are generally going to be lower on their own performances, while managers may sometimes publicly overlook negatives. In this case, Giolito has plenty to build off of from this start. If not for the error by Schanuel, Giolito gets out of the fifth inning unscathed and likely only has one run allowed over six innings.
While limiting traffic is always in the best interest of the team, Giolito had very few moments of slippage on Tuesday night. Perhaps he can use that as the building block for a turnaround the rest of the way.
Giolito not blaming Schanuel
Giolito took a strong approach when discussing Schanuel’s two-run error in the fifth inning. He defended the young rookie, saying that he put Schanuel in a bad situation by allowing traffic in the earlier part of the inning. Nevin agreed with the assessment that Schanuel is not to be blamed fully for the error.