Michael Kopech allowed 5 house runs in his first 14 begins this season.
The Minnesota Twins hit 4 of their 5 homers Tuesday off the Chicago White Sox right-hander.
The Sox couldn’t recuperate from the lengthy balls, falling 8-2 in entrance of 18,566 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“It’s not a good day, but unfortunately that’s how baseball goes sometimes,” Kopech stated. “Made some bad pitches over the heart of the plate and they hit them hard. I’ve just got to be better than that. That’s something that’s easy to fix from start to start. It’s just executing pitches better.”
Jose Miranda and Jorge Polanco hit two-run homers and Max Kepler and Alex Kirilloff had solo house runs in opposition to Kopech. Kirilloff additionally hit a two-run homer in opposition to Vince Velasquez for the Twins, who’ve taken the primary two rounds of a vital three-game collection for the Sox.
The Sox, who’re in third within the American League Central, path the division-leading Twins by 6½ video games. The Sox are 0-5 in opposition to the Twins this season.
Kopech allowed six runs on eight hits with 5 strikeouts and 4 walks in 4⅔ innings.
“Obviously it’s a big series, we want to beat these guys, so it’s tough right now,” Kopech stated. “But I feel everyone is wanting ahead to turning it round, nonetheless it comes. The effort and power has been there from the fellows on and off the sphere within the clubhouse.
“As a starter, I’ve got to do my part to set the tone and that goes a long way. It’s not how we want to play, especially the first two in a series against these guys, but we’re capable of turning it around.”
Kopech bought out of a bases-loaded jam with out permitting a run within the first, placing out Kirilloff to finish the inning.
Kepler homered with two outs within the third. Kirilloff singled main off the fourth and Miranda adopted along with his two-run homer, making it 3-0.
Polanco hit the primary pitch in his fifth-inning at-bat over the right-field wall for a two-run homer. Kirilloff made it back-to-back for a 6-1 lead.
“I had some close misses in the first inning,” Kopech stated. “I used to be pleased with some pitches I threw. They had been simply being actually affected person with me and I used to be being just a little too aggressive on the time. Changed my method later within the recreation, being reactive to what they had been doing, after which I began throwing extra strikes after which they modified their method to me.
“They seemed like they were playing proactively out there and I was playing a little reactively, which is never a good spot. I’ve just got to set the tone a little earlier.”
Kirilloff’s two-run homer within the seventh in opposition to Velasquez made it 8-2.
The Sox had 10 hits, however their solely extra-base hits had been doubles by Yoán Moncada and Josh Harrison. A run scored on Moncada’s double within the fourth.
“First of all, (the Twins) had pitches to hit and they didn’t miss them,” Sox supervisor Tony La Russa stated. “That’s to their credit score. From our aspect, I don’t like speaking about house runs since you get that of their minds and we’ll do much less, no more.
“We just want to be good hitters. When we hit the ball well — and we centered a few of them today, (Andrew) Vaughn hit two line drives — when we center the ball more consistently, we’ll get production we need, whether it’s home runs or runs scored or whatever.”
Harrison — who pitched a scoreless ninth — had two hits. His single within the seventh was his 1,000th big-league hit.
“Truly a blessing,” Harrison stated of the milestone. “We placed on this uniform and attempt to play so long as we will and by no means set out for particular person accolades. But typically it’s good to take a step again and respect the work I’ve put in to know I’ve been right here this lengthy.
“It’s something I don’t take lightly. I’m definitely grateful.”
Reese McGuire had three singles. But little else went proper for the Sox, who will attempt to keep away from being swept Wednesday.
“At the end of the day it’s not about who is on the other side,” Harrison stated. “We have to take care of what we do in here and that’s showing up every day and keep plugging away.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com