Had the White Sox known they were going to lose by the forfeit score, they could've saved themselves a whole lot of time and energy.
Michael Kopech effectively lost this game four batters in. He walked Ronald Acuña Jr., plunked Ozzie Albies, walked Austin Riley, then gave up a grand slam to Matt Olson to fall behind 4-0 before he could record his first out.
And while Kopech recorded that first out, he didn't get to a third. Pedro Grifol lifted him after two outs and 38 pitches, with only 14 finding the strike zone.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the plate, the White Sox reached base six times, and four of those baserunners were erased on double plays induced by Charlie Morton and Co. They didn't have a runner reach scoring position until the eighth inning, when Andrew Vaughn led off with a single and took second on a wild pitch. He did not score.
Touki Toussaint deserved the game ball for keeping the game respectable. He relieved Kopech and ended up getting the game through six. He was laboring at the end -- throwing 97 pitches out of the bullpen will do that to a man -- but he even though the Braves had the bases loaded and nobody out, he limited the damage to a sac fly.
Bryan Shaw was the guy who made a mess out of it. He got Sean Murphy to pop out, then allowed three runs before the second out came. Like Kopech, he could not finish one whole inning, because Albies hit a two-run double that put the game out of two slams' reach.
Bullet points:
*Tim Anderson had a couple of line drive singles to left of center field, but he also grounded into the fourth and final double play, which ended the game.
*Vaughn had two hits, but he also committed an inexplicable error on an Eddie Rosario grounder than even Rosario gave up on, thinking it was going to be a 3-unassisted. Instead, Vaughn didn't look the ball into his mitt, and by the time he could locate it, turn around and dive toward first, Rosario's foot was on the bag.
*Zach Remillard went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, but had a nice sliding catch behind Vaughn in shallow right field.
*Oscar Colás went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, but he cut down Albies at second with ease on an ill-advised attempt to stretch a single.
*White Sox pitchers threw 184 pitches over eight innings. White Sox hitters saw 118 pitches over nine.
