White Sox No-Hitters

No-hitters are fluky things, and that’s what makes them so much fun. Some of the greatest pitchers in history never threw a no-hitter and still ended up in Cooperstown, while their lesser contemporaries caught lightning in a bottle and then faded into well-deserved obscurity.

     Lucas Giolito of the White Sox now has a no-hitter under his belt—thanks to his performance against the Pittsburgh Pirates last night. Giolito allowed but one baserunner, on a walk leading off the fourth inning, while striking out 13 Pirates and completing the game in only 101 pitches. Giolito’s was the 19th no-hitter in White Sox history. “I’ve been working for this type of game for a while now,” he said afterwards, “and it’s really cool that we got it done.”

LUCAS GIOLITO

     Prior to Giolito’s gem, the most recent White Sox no-hitters were a pair of perfect games, by Mark Buehrle and Philip Humber. Buehrle is ranked by Baseball Reference as the tenth greatest player (and seventh greatest pitcher) in franchise history, and his number 56 has been retired. Humber was only 16-23 with the Sox and four other clubs in his brief career—but he combined with Buehrle and Charlie Robertson to give the South Siders three perfect games over the years, tying the Yankees for an obscure major-league record. 

     Below is a list of all White Sox no-hitters, with perfect games marked by an asterisk. The strangest game listed below took place in 1976, when Blue Moon Odom (five innings) and Francisco Barrios (four innings) walked 11 Oakland A’s between them but did not allow a hit.

Date	Pitcher	Opponent	Score
September 20, 1902	Nixey Callahan	Detroit Tigers	3–0
September 6, 1905	Frank Smith	at Detroit Tigers	15–0
September 20, 1908	Frank Smith	Philadelphia Athletics	1–0
August 27, 1911	Ed Walsh	Boston Red Sox	5–0
May 31, 1914	Joe Benz	Cleveland Naps	6–1
April 14, 1917	Eddie Cicotte	at St. Louis Browns	11–0
April 30, 1922	*Charlie Robertson	at Detroit Tigers	2–0
August 21, 1926	Ted Lyons	at Boston Red Sox	6–0
August 31, 1935	Vern Kennedy	Cleveland Indians	5–0
June 1, 1937	Bill Dietrich	St. Louis Browns	8–0
August 20, 1957	Bob Keegan	Washington Senators	6–0
September 10, 1967	Joel Horlen	Detroit Tigers	6–0
July 28, 1976	Odom/Barrios	at Oakland Athletics	2–1
September 19, 1986	Joe Cowley	at California Angels	7–1
August 11, 1991	Wilson Álvarez	at Baltimore Orioles	7–0
April 18, 2007	Mark Buehrle	Texas Rangers	6–0
July 23, 2009	*Mark Buehrle	Tampa Bay Rays	5–0
April 21, 2012	*Philip Humber	at Seattle Mariners	4–0
August 25, 2020	Lucas Giolito	Pittsburgh Pirates	4–0

 

 Check out our book Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports on Amazon.