The White Sox will be down a second member of their rotation as starting pitcher Lucas Giolito is headed to the 10-day IL with an abdominal injury, manager Tony La Russa said Saturday.
Giolito is expected to miss his next two starts, per La Russa, after leaving his Opening Day outing with what was described as “abdominal tightness” on Thursday. He still managed to strike out six batters and give up just one hit in four innings of work, but alerted the training staff when he felt lingering signs of discomfort.
“It was in the fourth inning, I felt like a little tweak in my lower left abdomen,” Giolito said Saturday, per The Athletic. “And we get random little aches and pains while we’re throwing that you kind of just disregard. So I immediately disregarded it. The next pitch, same. Next pitch, same. Just didn’t want to go away, so I had to go and say something.”
Giolito, 27, expressed optimism about his long-term status, adding that he feels “pretty good” and is “not really noticing too much soreness or anything like that.”
A 2019 All-Star, Giolito is coming off a third consecutive successful season with the White Sox. He posted a 3.53 ERA and 201 strikeouts in 31 starts and 178.2 innings in 2021.
With Giolito headed to the IL and ace Lance Lynn expected to miss six-to-eight weeks with a slight tear in a tendon in his right knee, Chicago already finds itself with two major holes in its rotation. Veteran Vince Velasquez is set to fill one of those spots on Tuesday in the team’s home opener, according to LaRussa.
