Lucas Giolito made it look easy in his first career postseason start.
The Chicago White Sox ace took a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Oakland Athletics in Game 1 of their American League wild-card series Tuesday, helping Chicago secure a 4-1 win to put the AL West champions on the brink of elimination in the best-of-three series.
Athletics second baseman Tommy La Stella ended Giolito's bid for the historic feat with a single to start the seventh.
Giolito surrendered one earned run on just two hits, walked one batter, and struck out eight while throwing 100 pitches over seven innings. The 26-year-old left in the eighth with nobody out after allowing a pair of Athletics runners to get on base.
"I usually don't love day games, because I'm not a morning person," Giolito joked postgame, according to James Fegan of The Athletic.
The right-hander's eight strikeouts are tied for second-most in White Sox postseason history.
Don Larsen is the only pitcher in MLB history to throw a perfect game during the playoffs, which he managed in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.
Lucas Giolito of the @whitesox is the 5th pitcher in MLB history to be perfect through 6 innings in a playoff game:
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) September 29, 2020
Don Larsen (1956): Perfect game
Herb Pennock (1927): 7.1 IP
Jim Lonborg (1967): 6.1 IP
Mike Mussina (2004): 6.1 IP#ChangeTheGame
Giolito threw a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates in late August.
