CHICAGO -- The music started blaring over Guaranteed Rate Field's sound system before Lucas Giolito even started to walk back to mound for the final time Tuesday.
He and the White Sox were about to close out the game to become 4-0 victors. The question was would he join a group of just eight other pitchers, including Bob Gibson, Max Scherzer and Carl Hubbell, to throw a no-hitter against the Pirates.
From a lyrical standpoint, it was almost fitting that the song playing was Stronger by Kanye West. As he neared the end of his warm up tosses, the rapper proclaims, "Bow in the presence of greatness."
Giolito was just three outs away from greatness. The first two came easily. Jarrod Dyson couldn't check his swing on a pitch in the dirt, and pinch-hitter Jose Osuna popped out.
Down to his last strike, Erik Gonzalez appeared to drive Giolito's 101st pitch of the night for a hit, but right fielder Adam Engel was positioned well and grabbed the sinking liner, ending the game.
Social distancing is preached nowadays, but that didn't stop the White Sox from mauling him on the field in jubilation.
"We saw one of the best pitchers in the game have a performance of a lifetime," Derek Shelton said.
Giolito said he felt his stuff was working after his 1-2-3 first inning, and kept "building and building" from there. After the sixth, he started to realize what was going on.
"After the seventh, it was like, 'I've got six outs left. I'm going to make this happen,' " Giolito said. "I looked at who was coming up, and I was like, 'This is very much within the realm of possibilities.' "
That may have been a bit of a slight on the Pirates, who struggled offensively all season before their past weekend against the Brewers. The construction of the lineup did not do much to alleviate the pressure.
The Pirates sat three of their hotter hitters Tuesday -- Colin Moran, Kevin Newman and Jacob Stallings-- despite having a day off Monday. Moran and Newman left with injuries in Sunday's game, but Shelton announced before the game that they were available to play Tuesday.
Neither got into the game, though. Shelton did not want to pinch-hit either player unless it was in a "closer situation."
Gonzalez, in addition to driving that ball in the ninth, was the only base runner the Pirates had all day, drawing a four-pitch walk to open the fourth inning.
He was also the only Pirates starter to not strike out Tuesday. Gregory Polanco and Cole Tucker both struck out all three times they came to the plate. In total, Giolito finished with 13 punchouts.
That's not much of a consolation for him.
“I didn’t want to be part of history,” González said about his final at-bat of the night.
While Giolito's fastball may have been his go-to pitch, it was his slider and changeup that got him ahead in counts. He got 13 whiffs on the 23 swings Pirates batters took against his changeup, and eight whiffs on their 11 swings against his slider.
"He pitched backwards," Gonzalez said. "I think that was the key for him to control the game.”
After struggling throughout all of 2018, Giolito has broken out into becoming one of the American League's top young starters. Tuesday's performance meant almost as much to manager Rick Renteria, who stuck with Giolito and kept building his confidence during that rough first season.
"I don't have any words," Renteria said about Giolito's night. "I want to cry. I'm so happy for him."
It is the first no-hitter of Giolito's career, and the 305th in Major League Baseball history, regular and postseason combined.
And the ending was due in large part to a good scouting report and read by Engel.
"Engy had a great jump on that ball," Renteria said.
Gioloto joked after that he owes Engel "something" for that play. The idea of a steak dinner was entertained.
"That's part of a no-hitter," Giolito said. "There's always that one play, right? I guess that was the one."
If the key play wasn't Engel's catch, the game's other nominee for play of the day came in the seventh, when shortstop Tim Anderson made a ranging play from his shifted position up the middle to throw out Bryan Reynolds at first:
Every no-hitter has a signature defensive play.
TA and Abreu provided this one's. pic.twitter.com/LZVY0AsuoS
— MLB (@MLB) August 26, 2020
Those plays helped, but it was all Giolito Tuesday. Shelton saw a lot of him the past few years as the Twins bench coach, and knew early on that was the best stuff he had ever had.
Nothing to do but "tip your cap" for that one, as Shelton put it.
“Obviously it sucks, but at the same time, that’s baseball history right there," Steven Brault said. "Good for him.”
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