Giolito fans 11 in bittersweet homecoming win

ANAHEIM -- Pitching on Friday night at Angel Stadium brought mixed emotions for Lucas Giolito. For the Santa Monica, Calif., native, it was a chance to pitch close to home, with several friends and family members in attendance.

However, it’s who wasn’t there that stood out most to the right-hander.

Giolito was good friends with late Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, the two being part of the same Los Angeles-based offseason workout group. With Skaggs’ No. 45 written on his cap and painted behind him on the mound, Giolito put up a quality start, allowing two runs in six innings of a 7-2 win over the Angels.

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“It was definitely weird pitching in his home park,” said Giolito. “But I just wanted to keep that spirit with me. Just like how he would, as he would say, ‘Bring the spark, get after it, attack some batters.’ And we were able to do that, come out on top. So I felt good.”

Coming off an outing in which he reached a career high with 13 strikeouts against the A’s, Giolito hit double-digit K’s once again, fanning 11 batters. He had to labor a bit, throwing a season-high 113 pitches. But his stuff played well in deceiving Angels batters, as 23 induced swings and misses were the second most he’s managed in a start this year, behind the 26 he got against the Royals on May 28.

“High-riding fastball was working, got swings and misses there,” said Giolito. “Changeup was good tonight. Was able to mix in some sliders. It was definitely more of a battle kind of day than my previous outing, though.”

The Angels picked up a run against Giolito with a triple and base hit in the third, and another one on a Mike Trout solo shot in the fifth. But Giolito mostly did a good job escaping harm when runners did reach, particularly in the sixth inning, when he worked around a leadoff single and a walk to put up a zero.

“The sixth inning got a little hectic, but his velocity actually got a little up. He was up to 96 [mph] in the sixth,” manager Rick Renteria said. “It looked like maybe he lost a little bit of his command, but he recovered. Here’s a kid, a young man, who is trying to impress upon the world of baseball that he can be a guy. And I think that that inning in particular, that he worked through and was able to get out of without any damage was pretty impressive.”

“He hides the ball really well,” said Trout. “He’s got a good changeup. He’s got that short slot. It’s tough picking it up. That’s why he’s having a great year this year. He’s got great stuff.”

All in all, it was a fine outing on an eventful night at the ballpark for Giolito. In what was essentially a homecoming start, he’d earmarked around 15 tickets for guests, including a family friend who he said had never attended a Major League Baseball game before. His brother, Casey, even got into the television booth to have a conversation with guest broadcaster Bill Walton.

On the more somber side of things, playing in Skaggs’ former stomping grounds gave Giolito the chance to reflect on his departed friend and his legacy.

“The impact he left on me was just his attitude towards baseball, attitude towards life,” said Giolito. “I carry a lot of that with me. It helped me, just the carefree, charismatic [personality], that’s kind of who I am in our clubhouse, so it’s definitely something that I took from him when I was much younger. … I’m just trying to continue on that kind of legacy, that personality.”

Another McCann slam

Just two days after his walk-off grand slam to beat the Astros, catcher James McCann hit another on Friday, this one in the eighth inning. Traveling a projected 446 feet, according to Statcast, it was the longest home run of McCann’s career. It was also his 14th of 2019, a new single-season high mark for him.

“It’s a special feeling,” said McCann. “Something I could’ve never dreamed of. Both situations, just looking for a pitch to handle, and thankfully, I didn’t miss it.”

The blast gave the White Sox, who were only ahead by one run at the time, some much-needed insurance. Walton, who identified McCann as “his guy” when the catcher gave him a bat following a pregame pep talk, provided an exuberant call of the blast.

“He signed a ball for me before the game, a baseball, and he had asked for a bat to have up in the booth,” said McCann, a fan of Walton’s work as a basketball broadcaster. “So I just gave him mine.”