Sox lose in 11: Kopech keeps cool in a game gone wild
When he last spoke to the media, on April 26, the White Sox were a few hours away from their eighth straight loss and general manager Rick Hahn was doing an admirable job staying focused on the bigger picture.
"There's no voiding the frustration and disappointment, but one of the beautiful things about this sport is the length of the season really forces the cream to rise to the top over the course of the six-month season," Hahn said.
Two weeks later, Hahn met with reporters again only a few hours before the Sox held a late 8-2 lead over Cleveland and were in great shape to extend their winning streak to seven games.
"One of the beautiful things about this game is over the course of a long summer, the true talent and true ability of the team tends to prevail," the White Sox's GM said. "We're still very early in this season, but it's nice to see more of the upside showing itself than in the first couple weeks."
Needless to say, the upside did not carry through in a dismal 12-9 loss to the Guardians in 11 innings.
Cleveland stunned the Sox in the ninth inning, scoring 6 runs on 4 hits and 2 errors. The White Sox cleaned up their defense during their six-game surge but they made 4 errors Monday and it cost them.
"A brutal loss," manager Tony La Russa said.
Josh Naylor's grand slam with two outs in the ninth off Liam Hendriks tied the game and set up extra innings. Naylor struck again in the 11th, and his 3-run shot off Ryan Burr decided the outcome.
Sox starter Michael Kopech has been solid all season, and the right-hander was brilliant against the Guardians while pitching 6 innings and allowing 1 unearned run on 2 hits and 2 walks.
Continuing to build back up after missing the 2019-20 seasons and mainly working out of the bullpen last year, Kopech also had 7 strikeouts, threw 91 pitches and lowered his ERA 0.93.
Kopech is anxious to pitch deep into games every time his turn comes up, but the Sox are more concerned he's healthy when it really matters.
"I know he wants the reins taken off of him and let him run the way he wants to run as we project him to be able to do over the course of his career," Hahn said. "He's still someone who we are building up and still someone that every fifth day or sixth day, whenever he gets the ball, he has the opportunity to sort of build upon that and continue to make strides toward similarly being one of the elite starters in this league."
Right fielder Gavin Sheets made the White Sox's first error, dropping a flyball that led to an unearned run in the first inning.
Sheets redeemed himself when he hit a 3-run homer in the bottom of the first.
Still looking to make an impact like he did as a rookie last season after coming up from Class AAA Charlotte, Sheets connected off Cleveland starter Zach Plesac.
"He's in that sophomore year where the league makes adjustments," Hahn said. "They challenge you in different ways. It's incumbent on him to make those adjustments back to show he can be sort of a longterm fit in the lineup. I think one of the nice things is that not only is he a hard worker who gets it, he also knows we aren't looking for him to hit 35 home runs.
"Does he have the ability to some day? Sure, absolutely. But that's not why he's here in this lineup right now. He provides some balance and gives us ideally quality at-bats and line drives around the ballpark like he was doing last year."
AJ Pollock's first home run with the White Sox, a 3-run shot in the eighth inning, made it an 8-2 game before it all fell apart.