Michael Kopech had the worst start during the first turn through the White Sox rotation.
He had the best start of the second turn, but his reward was the worst offensive performance of the season. He threw six innings of one-run ball, but the White Sox could only muster six singles of support. Without a walk, HBP or Pittsburgh error to add traffic to the bases, it looked a lot like the 2022 formula, and they went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
The Pirates won the series, but they're probably not feeling great about it, because Oneil Cruz broke his ankle in a collision at home plate that accounted for the game's only real fireworks.
Pittsburgh had a chance to blow the game open when Cruz led off the sixth with a walk (assisted by an Elvis Andrus shift violation), stole second, and moved to third on Bryan Reynolds' firm single to right. Ke'Bryan Hayes followed with a bouncer to third, and Cruz broke for home.
My read on the play is that Cruz tried to remain upright for as long as possible, hoping his 6-foot-7-inch frame would pose a difficult angle for Yoán Moncada. Once Moncada's throw cleared him and landed in Seby Zavala's mitt, though, Cruz didn't have a plan for getting down. He slid late into Zavala's knee and Zavala applied the tag, but Cruz got the worst of it.
Zavala's reaction to Cruz -- "B-tch, what the f-ck was that?" -- probably didn't sound great to the on-deck hitter Carlos Santana, and when Kopech put his arm on Santana to get in between them, that's when the benches cleared around a crumpled Cruz.
There was some light shoving, and the bullpens emptied, but no punches were thrown, and so everybody remained in the game.
Kopech still had the sizable task of recording two more outs after the interruption, and he had another delay to deal with after the White Sox had to challenge the next play. Andrus fired high and wide to second on a potential 4-6-3 double play ball from Santana, and Tim Anderson dropped the ball on an awkward transfer. Hayes was originally ruled safe, but the replay showed that Anderson had control of the ball with his foot on the bag, and only lost it afterward.
The successful challenge put runners on the corners with two outs, and Kopech closed out the inning with a strikeout of Ji Man Choi for the quality start.
And quality it was. He only gave up one run, and it might not have scored with a better, or even natural, outfielder in right field.
With Luis Robert Jr. getting the day off, Oscar Colás played center and Romy González handled right. Canaan Smith-Njigba hit a high fly toward right center. González tracked it well enough to get back to the wall, but he didn't have his body squared up right, and his twisting, leaping attempt failed to catch it. The ball caromed off the wall, Smith-Njigba hustled to third, and he ended up scoring on a Jack Suwinski sac fly for the game's only run.
A slow-mo replay showed the ball hitting the wall right behind González's glove, which probably means better timing may have gotten the job done, but I don't think any of the other right-field candidates on the roster would've been a good bet to make the catch, either.
The triple and Reynolds' single preceding the Cruz injury were the Pirates' only hits of the day.
The bigger problem was the offense, which was stifled by Johan Oviedo. The Sox managed just six singles, and three of them were by Gavin Sheets. They had a hard time getting the ball off the ground,
Their best opportunity came in the fifth, when Colás singled off Oviedo's person, González singled him to third, and then González backfilled second with a stolen base. Zavala struck out, and Andrus flied out to end the threat.
(Perhaps the inning turns out differently if first base umpire Andy Fletcher didn't say that Andrus went around on an 0-1 fastball that hit his tricep. The side view angle showed that Andrus checked his swing, and that would've loaded the bases for Tim Anderson.)
Zavala's spot came up two innings later when Sheets led off with a single, then moved to second on Colás sac bunt/bunt single attempt. González struck out, and when Pedro Grifol went to Yasmani Grandal, Derek Shelton replaced Oviedo with Dauri Moreta. Shelton won by striking out Grandal looking on a high changeup.
The NBC Sports Chicago pitch tracker said it was high ...
... but the Statcast zone said it was a strike.
Home plate umpire Laz Diaz sided with the latter.
The offense picked a bad day for an ineffective showing. Not only did Kopech suppress the Pittsburgh offense on the strength of his fastball, but Jimmy Lambert threw a scoreless seventh, and Jake Diekman of all people posted a perfect eighth.
Bullet points
*Both starters were tagged with a pitch timer violation, and Andrus was hit with the White Sox's first shift violation when he had his heels on the outfield grass. A slider that evened the count was nullified, Kopech was hit with an automatic ball, and Kopech ended up walking Cruz.
*While Sheets was 3-for-4, the six hitters in front of him went 1-for-22 with six strikeouts.
