Michael Kopech Continues To Shine Against The MLB's Best

Michael Kopech's starts are beginning to become appointment television. On Tuesday night he faced one of the best offenses in baseball and looked completely unfazed. He dominated the Dodgers through six innings and showed the rest of the league why he was so highly regarded by the White Sox organization. Kopech set the tone early by mowing down Mookie Betts on strikes to open the game. He then punched out Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger to end the second inning. Both of them came on fastballs in the upper 90s. He continued to torment the Dodger in the third by striking out Eddy Alvarez with another heater, then freezing Gavin Lux with a slider. Kopech blew a fastball past former MVP Freddie Freeman in the fourth inning then wrapped up the strikeout parade by punching out Bellinger and Chris Taylor on a pair of sliders in the fifth inning. What has gotten Kopech in trouble is his season is his command. A large chunk of his 1.94 ERA came on May 15th against the Yankees. He walked four batters in the second inning, hit a batter, and threw a wild pitch which allowed three runs to score. Yet he still managed to go six innings and earn a quality start. His command was not the issue against the Dodgers. He threw 69 of his 98 pitches for strikes. His key to success was frequently getting ahead in the count which allowed him to keep hitters off balance and stay on the attack.

His final line was six innings, no runs on one hit, one walk, and eight strikeouts. This came against a team with the third-best record in the MLB at (35-19) and an offense that is averaging just over five runs a game (5.37 runs). But if you watch Kopech this season this comes as no surprise. "He sets himself apart by the talent" La Russa said after Tuesday's game. "When it's all together, it's no fun to hit." Kopech lowered his ERA to 1.94. He is averaging 9 strikeouts per nine innings and owns a 0.94 WHIP. Opponents are hitting just .139 against him. His numbers this year are Cy Young worthy. Just don't tell Kopech that. "To be honest I've tried not to look at my stats the entire year," he told reporters. "My dad was telling me a couple of weeks ago. I said 'Dad listen, I don't want to talk about this.' So with all due respect, I'm going to say the same to you."

The most impressive part is that the majority of his starts have come against the best teams in the MLB. He threw five scoreless innings against the Minnesota Twins, six innings, seven scoreless against the Yankees, and six scoreless against the Dodgers. His total ERA against first-place teams this season is 1.13. The White Sox rewarded his efforts against the Dodgers, with a four-run outburst in the sixth inning. With runners at the corners, Dodger's manager Dave Roberts brought in David Price out of the bullpen. Tony La Russa countered that move by calling on AJ Pollock to pinch hit for Gavin Sheets. Pollock didn't wait long to get revenge on his former team. On the first pitch, he saw he ripped a line drive down the right-field line for a two-run double.

Jake Burger then brought home Pollock with an RBI double of his own down the left-field line. Then Reese McGuire kept the line moving with an RBI single to give the White Sox a four-run cousin. That is all the run support the White Sox bullpen would need. Reynaldo. Lopez, Aaron Bummer, Kendall Graveman, and Liam Hendriks slammed the door with the help of two timely double plays. The first one came in the seventh inning. After surrounding a leadoff single, Lopez was able to induce a 6-4-3 double play to clear the bases. In the eighth inning, the dodger strung together two hits off Kendall Graveman. But Graveman was able to escape the jam by getting Freddie Freeman to ground out to Danny Mendick at shortstop. Mendick took it himself to the bag and fired it to first for an inning-ending double play. With the victory, the White Sox have won nine of their last ten interleague games and are 14-2 since July 25th of last season. It also gave Kopech his second victory of the season.