On a day where the Pittsburgh Pirates were no-hit by the Cincinnati Reds and won, it didn't seem so weird that the White Sox carried a one-hitter into the ninth while trailing convincingly. Then a second hit took the form of a two-run homer by Joey Gallo in the ninth inning, and that made it academic.
It's only the second time in White Sox history that they allowed at least five runs on two or fewer hits -- the other came against the Yankees on June 17, 1908, when they were the New York Highlanders -- but this one doesn't require a whole lot of explanation.
Basically, Michael Kopech lost control of his arsenal after retiring the first two batters of the second inning, and it decided the ballgame. He retired the first five batters of the game on 19 pitches, but needed another 32 before getting the third out. He went walk, single, walk, walk, walk before getting Aaron Judge to ground out to end the inning. The last two walks brought home runs, as did a wild pitch during Judge's at-bat.
Fortunately he recovered to throw six innings on a reasonable amount of pitches, and after retiring Judge, he started a streak of 21 consecutive Yankees retired. Here's how his day breaks down:
- Second inning: 1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 0 K, 1 WP, 41 pitches, 19 strikes
- Other five: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 50 pitches, 31 strikes
The biggest question from here is whether Kopech is at all broken. His velocity started down and stayed down. He topped out at 96, but spent the second half of his start in the low 90s. He also generated just seven swinging strikes on his 91 pitches. It was a gutty effort, considering the Sox are looking at eight games over the next seven days, but those numbers are usually accompanied by greater concerns.
Ryan Burr threw a perfect seventh and Reynaldo López a perfect eighth. José Ruiz handled the first two outs of the ninth, but like Kopech and Joe Kelly before him, he also had trouble getting a third out. He walked Josh Donaldson, then misplaced a 3-2 fastball to Joey Gallo, who smashed a line drive into the first rows of the former Goose Island.
Adam Engel smashed his own line drive into the White Sox bullpen for the White Sox's one and only run of the ballgame off Nestor Cortes in the eighth inning, but that only reduced the margin to 3-1.
Cortes, who entered the game with a 1.41 ERA and 42 strikeouts to 31 baserunners over 32 innings, showed why he'd been able to accumulate those gaudy numbers. He allowed just three hits while striking out seven, and he induced mostly routine outs, with seemingly every other one to Josh Donaldson at third base. He threw a career-high eight innings, and he threw 69 of his 99 pitches for strikes.
Bullet points:
*Five of the 10 members of the White Sox shown in the box score have averages below .200.
*The Yankees outscored the White Sox 32-15 over the four-game series.
*Oddly enough, the Yankees out-errored the White Sox 4-0.
