Cleveland 9, White Sox 7: O Kopech, Where Art Thou?

6:41 PM CDT on August 12, 2018

On Saturday night, Michael Kopech made a compelling argument that his next start should be in Chicago. On Sunday afternoon, Dylan Covey provided an exclamation point.

The Sox starter lasted just 2 2/3 innings against Cleveland, allowing 6 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. As the saying goes, two's a coincidence and three's a trend, so what is ten -- an avalanche? Over his last 10 starts, here's Covey's line: 46.1 IP, 60 H, 46 ER, 25 BB, 26 K, 8.94 ERA.

Yeesh.

On the other side of the diamond, Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco picked up where Shane Bieber and Trevor Bauer left off, dominating the Sox for 7 innings, giving up a run in the 1st and not much after.

Even that run was not particularly inspiring. After a Yolmer Sanchez single, Jose Abreu grounded to his counterpart Yonder Alonso, who tried to turn two but pulled Francisco Lindor off the bag at second. Terry Francona tried and failed to challenge, then a wild pitch and a Daniel Palka groundout brought Sanchez home.

That was it for the Sox against Carrasco, and since Covey had already started immolating in the top of the 1st, the afternoon had the makings of an open-and-shut game.

Adam Engel had other ideas.

First, with the Sox trailing 9-1 in the top of the 8th and two runs already in, he made -- incredibly -- his THIRD home run saving catch of the homestand, taking a two-run dinger away from Alonso and saving Thyago Vieira's bacon/ERA.