Something must have been slightly amiss between right-hander Lucas Giolito and James McCann Tuesday night.
Giolito actually shook off a pitch called by his catcher.
“He shook early in the game, and it kind of caught me off guard,” McCann said. “I can literally think of maybe three times in our entire history together where he’s shaken off. It’s just kind of one of those things, that trust that we’ve had, I don’t know if I’ve ever had that with another pitcher in my career.”
One thing McCann does know: He had never caught a no-hitter until Giolito pitched a 101-pitch masterpiece with one walk against the Pirates concluding with his last call of the night, a 97 mph-fastball to Erik Gonzalez lined to right field and caught by Adam Engel.
As usual, Giolito let McCann’s fingers do the pitch calling. For 100 of the 101 pitches, anyway.
“It felt like a typical outing,” Giolito said. “I’m letting him do all the thinking, letting him read the hitters. I’m paying attention, I’m seeing what they’re doing. It was one of those nights where we were really in sync. Like I had the grip ready to go, and he was putting the signs down. Obviously, the relationship we have on and off the field is stupendous. I mean, I can’t say enough good things about him. He was such a huge part of what happened tonight.”
What happened was the 19th no-hitter in Sox history and the first in baseball in 2020. Giolito says McCann deserves a big assist.
“I didn’t say anything to him throughout the game other than ‘stay aggressive and keep getting after it.’ “ McCann said. “I pretty much told him that after every inning. Nothing changed from really after the bullpen in the beginning of the game to after the eighth. I kept telling him stay aggressive, keep attacking and attack, attack, attack.”
When Giolito shakes McCann, it’s a story. He did zero times when he threw seven innings of scoreless ball with 13 strikeouts in his previous start against the Tigers Thursday.
McCann, the Sox’ No. 2 catcher behind Yasmani Grandal, is likely going to be missed before long because he will be a free agent after the season.
McCann formed a bond during his first season with the Sox in 2019. Giolito, coming off a horrible year in 2018 when he led the majors in ERA, changed his motion and also jelled with McCann, who also had a turnaround season making the All-Star team after the Tigers non-tendered him. Dealing with adversity is one of the things that pulled them together.
“We talked about it last year,” McCann said. “We both had a down 2018. People wrote him off, people wrote me off. And then all of a sudden, we’re both All-Stars together in 2019. We talked about it tonight. As special as that 2019 All-Star Game was with him and [Jose] Abreu, tonight is on another level. Tonight’s something that I’ll never forget, something he’ll never forget.
“There is a bond to proving people wrong, continuing to work and continuing to prove people wrong. And we both have that mindset.”
The bond might not last much longer because McCann will want to be a starter somewhere and the Sox are committed to Yasmani Grandal as their No. 1 catcher. Grandal signed a $73 million deal in the offseason, the richest in Sox history.
While he’s still here, McCann probably hopes he gets as many starts as he can with Giolito pitching.
“Lucas is an unbelievable pitcher and he has great stuff,” McCann said, “and I think our relationship just kind of takes it to the next level. He’s really bought into how I call a game and how I manage a game, and it’s worked. He trusts me, I trust him.”
