Giants launch 7 home runs, roll to 12-3 win in Sox's home opener
It's a new season, and the White Sox have Andrew Benintendi, Oscar Colas, Mike Clevinger and other new players along with a new manager in Pedro Grifol.
There is plenty of optimism on the South Side, which is common at this early stage.
But Monday's home opener felt a lot like last year, when it was one stumble after another under erstwhile manager Tony La Russa.
"It's not how we wanted it to go," Benintendi said.
Boos were frequently flying in the sky over the South Side in 2022 and that trend continued in Monday afternoon's 12-3 loss to the Giants.
Looking for a highlight? Try the weather.
With rain in the forecast, first pitch was moved up an hour, to 2:10 p.m. There were a few sprinkles early but, all in all, it was an ideal day for early April.
The same can't be said for Michael Kopech.
Making his first appearance of the season as the Sox's No. 5 starter, Kopech was hearing the majority of boos from the crowd of 34,784 while giving up 5 solo home runs in 4⅔ innings.
Joc Pederson got San Francisco's power parade started in the second inning and Michael Conforto, Thairo Estrada, Mike Yastrzemski and David Villar all went deep in the fifth.
Pederson nearly had a 2-run homer in the third inning but was robbed on another standout defensive play from White Sox center fielder Luis Robert.
Kopech allowed 7 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks while throwing 91 pitches in his debut.
The right-hander breezed through a 1-2-3 first inning while striking out two and throwing only 11 pitches, but the outing went downhill fast.
"I don't know if it's so easy to pinpoint that something changed, but I kind of got out of a rhythm," Kopech said. "I was kind of fighting my way back to pinpoint command and keyholed myself a little bit. For the most part, just didn't have the results that I wanted. I don't know if too much changed other than I just didn't execute."
The way the Giants we teeing off, it's likely Kopech was tipping his pitches.
"It's a possibility," Kopech said. "If it wasn't necessarily a tip, there was something I was doing different, breaking ball to fastball. Just by the body language of the hitters, they were on everything. I have enough speed difference to throw guys off, a little bit.
"The fact they were on everything, they saw something. Whether it was a tip or just me presenting pitches differently, they put good swings on it and it showed."
Trailing 7-0 in the seventh inning, the Sox got an RBI double from Andrew Vaughn and Eloy Jimenez scored from third base on Yasmani Grandal's groundout.
Robert added a solo home run in the eighth.
Villar capped the Giants' lopsided win with a grand slam off Jose Ruiz in the ninth inning followed by Bryce Johnson's solo homer.
Infielder Hanser Alberto relieved Ruiz and finished out the ninth for the White Sox.
"This is never what you want," Grifol said. "Obviously, Opening Day is an important day for everyone, for us to come out and put on a good showing. But it didn't happen that way. It's one game out of 162. I said it and I'll say it over and over again, whether we win or lose we've got to flush this game and get back to playing baseball on Wednesday.
"That's just basically how you navigate a major-league season. You've got to have a short-term memory."