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.¡±