Hello from the other side: Lucas Giolito, familiar foe, now a friend to the Guardians

Cleveland Guardians pitchers Triston McKenzie, left, and Lucas Giolito, right, gesture from the dugout in the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

CLEVELAND — Lucas Giolito spent years viewing a game against Cleveland as a tough draw. Now he’ll pitch arguably the most important single game of the season to date Monday night.

Giolito was one of the three pitchers the Guardians claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels’ salary dump last week, and the only starter. He was officially added to the roster Saturday.

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For parts of six seasons, Giolito was one of the Guardians’ toughest rivals, a Cy Young candidate pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. He’s spent plenty of time in the opposing dugout. Saturday night was the first time he happened to be wearing the home uniform.

“When I was told I was coming over, this that I’ve watched from the other side on a different team in the Central for six-plus years,” Giolito said Sunday. “I always noticed the energy and the passion that all the players bring, the way Tito [manager Terry Francona] leads the group. It’s kind of known as the Cleveland Pitching Factory around the league, so I’m pumped to be here.”

Giolito was traded from the White Sox to the Angels at the trade deadline after Chicago fell out of the race. The Angels, during the month of August, also failed to keep pace and waived five players, three of whom were claimed by Cleveland and one by Cincinnati.

It’s Giolito’s third chance to help a contender this season. And rather than having to contend with a team that always seems to grind out difficult wins, he’ll now be on the mound, hoping to lead them to a few, beginning with Monday night’s crucial game against the first-place Minnesota Twins.

“When I was with the White Sox, I experienced a lot of tough series against the Guardians,” Giolito said. “The biggest thing for me is they’re always fighting, always scratching and clawing to get that W, and the energy, the fire, the passion the players bring.”

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Giolito will quickly transition from heated foe to needed friend.

“Last night I noticed how cohesive the group is. The guys are all friends, everybody gets along, everybody pulls for each other,” he said. “They want to see each other be successful. And that, really, I think signifies in a way continued success of this organization has had over the last X amount of years.”

Los Angeles Angels’ Lucas Giolito pitches Aug. 28 in Philadelphia.

Giolito’s time with the Angels wasn’t exactly heavenly. In six starts, he posted a 6.89 ERA in 32⅔ innings. In that time, he gave up 10 home runs and walked 15.

Between 2019 and 2021, he posted a combined 3.47 ERA with an 11/1 K/9 rate. He finished in the top 11 in American League Cy Young voting and in the top seven twice. But since the beginning of 2022, he has been searching a bit, owning a 4.68 ERA.

As Giolito takes the mound for the first time as a Guardians pitcher, he’ll do so after a whirlwind few weeks in which he’s pitched for three different teams, learned quite a bit of new information about how MLB’s waiver process works — he called it all a “Twilight Zone” experience — and joined his third postseason hunt.

“For me, confidence and success comes with that [same] preparation,” he said. “So despite how wacky and crazy these last few weeks have been, that’s the one thing that I really want to stick to, is staying within myself in all this stuff I do for preparation.”

“And when it comes time to take the ball, go out with confidence and let it rip.”

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians Lucas Giolito to play key role in push to playoffs