Chicago White Sox starter Michael Kopech paced behind the mound as David Villar circled the bases after hitting the San Francisco Giants’ fourth dwelling run of the fifth inning.
Talk about spoiling a celebration.
The Giants hit seven homers in all and thumped the Sox 12-3 to place a damper on Monday’s dwelling opener in entrance of 34,784 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“The first inning, (Kopech) threw the ball really well, the velocity was high and he looked really good,” Sox supervisor Pedro Grifol stated. “They made some changes on him. Whatever that was, we’ve received to get again to the video and see what we’ve received and see what we see.
“We’re going to flush this one. This is one of 162. We’ve got to flush it, day off (Tuesday) and come ready to play on Wednesday.”
The seven dwelling runs allowed are tied for the second-most in membership historical past, one shy of the report eight the New York Yankees hit on July 31, 2007.
Five of the homers got here in opposition to Kopech and two off José Ruiz — together with a grand slam by Villar within the ninth.
Kopech allowed seven runs on eight hits with 5 strikeouts and three walks in 4⅔ innings.
“For a starter sample size, it’s tough to take a hit like that, especially the home opener when that feels pretty important to the fans,” Kopech stated. “But we are going to put it behind us and just keep working.”
The 5 homers allowed are a profession excessive for Kopech and matched probably the most by a Sox pitcher in a recreation, most just lately by Reynaldo López in opposition to the Toronto Blue Jays on July 27, 2018. That’s additionally the final time a Sox pitcher allowed 4 homers in a single inning.
“The fact they were on everything, they saw something,” Kopech stated. “Whether it was a tip or just me presenting pitches differently, they put good swings on it and it showed.”
Kopech had a pleasant rhythm in a scoreless first inning that included two strikeouts. He went to a full depend to Joc Pederson to start the second and allowed a homer on a 96.8 mph fastball, in response to MLB Statcast.
“Pederson had a good at-bat,” Kopech stated. “I can’t leave that pitch there.”
Pederson would have had a second homer, however Luis Robert Jr. jumped on the wall and robbed him within the third.
Kopech received forward of Michael Conforto 0-2 with one out within the fifth, however the correct fielder lined the following pitch — a 93.5 mph fastball — over the wall in right-center to provide the Giants a 4-0 lead. Two pitches later, Thairo Estrada hit a slider to left for a house run.
The Giants once more hit back-to-back homers later within the inning with Mike Yastrzemski homering on an 0-1 curveball and Villar on a 2-2 fastball.
Kopech exited after strolling the following batter to wrap up his first begin of the season. The right-hander stated a optimistic was his changeup is “better than it has ever been.”
“I have a fourth pitch that I’m comfortable throwing,” Kopech stated. “Unfortunately the three I’ve always been comfortable throwing got hit pretty hard.”
Grifol stated Kopech was coming off a “good” spring coaching.
“Everything was trending in the right direction,” Grifol stated. “A loss is tough, they made the adjustments on him today. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board, that’s it. He’ll start again in five days.”
That’s the mindset Kopech is taking.
“We have a structured five-day routine as starters, and fortunately that’s the time to focus on our work and get ready for the next start, put this one behind me,” Kopech stated. “Obviously from this one there’s some stuff I must work on earlier than the following one.
“For the most part, that’s not pitch-wise, that’s more of a presentation of the pitches. That can be worked on in the bullpen and just move forward and move on.”
That applies to the Sox generally.
“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,” Grifol stated. “It’s one recreation out of 162. I’ll say it again and again, whether or not we win or lose, we’ve received to flush this recreation and get again to enjoying baseball on Wednesday.
“And that’s just basically how you navigate a major-league season. You can’t think about when you’re up (or) when you’re down too much. You’ve got to have a short-term memory.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com