White Sox pitcher hurls no-hitter — four months after doing it in MLB The Show 20

Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito threw his second no-hitter of the season last night. He threw his first in MLB The Show 20.

Really. Back in April, Giolito (pitching as himself, naturally) horse-collared Detroit’s Niko Goodrum, when Major League Baseball was running the Players League livestream competition. Last night, Giolito (pitching as himself, again) mowed down the Pittsburgh Pirates, with a 4-0, no-hit shutout.

MLB tweeted side-by-side highlights of both feats. In April, he got Dom Thompson-Williams on a bang-bang groundout to second base to seal a no-hitter (but for hitting a batter, it would have been a perfect game).

Last night, Erik Gonzalez lined out to right fielder Adam Engel to close it out. The only blemish on Giolito’s pitching line was a leadoff walk to Gonzalez to start the fourth inning. After that, Giolito retired 18 batters in a row.

“If you would’ve asked me about it in [2018], I probably would have been like, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’” Giolito told MLB.com after the game. “But that was a weird year. I think it’s just a product of hard work, determination, learning how to trust myself, trust my stuff.”

In MLB The Show 20, Giolito has a solid 81 overall rating, whose best attributes are the 88 on his breaking pitches and a worthy 78 and 80 on his hits and strikeouts per nine innings ratings, respectively. His 84 stamina is enough to get him through a complete game, too.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly gave the inning in which Gonzalez was walked. He was walked to begin the fourth inning. Giolito then retired the next 18 batters without one reaching base, and 27 of 28 for the game.