NEW YORK — Michael Kopech faces the Mets on Thursday, trying to wash away the effects of an awful performance in Atlanta on Friday in which he failed to finish the first inning.
Kopech said he “filled up the strike zone” in his bullpen session between starts, concentrating on being aggressive, and came away confident that his outing against the Braves wasn’t anything mechanical as much as his mindset.
“It’s just being collected and aggressive at the same time,” Kopech told the Sun-Times on Wednesday. “Not being too aggressive and getting outside of yourself. It’s also not being so methodical that you can’t still be aggressive. I don’t know that there’s a specific mechanical cue I can pinpoint.”
Kopech walked four, hit one batter and gave up a grand slam to Matt Olson, getting two outs. His body language told the story of how things were going, which is something he wants to reel in.
“When you’re having a good go of it, you don’t want to get outside of yourself and show that,” he said, “and when you’re having a rough go, you don’t want to carry it on your sleeves because people can take that and make a run out of it themselves. It’s staying in control and doing it with a purpose. That’s part of the art of pitching.”
The sight of Kopech getting down on himself is not a good one for those with hopes for a winning White Sox rotation. It doesn’t seem to matter much in 2023, with waiver claim Touki Toussaint allowing five earned runs in six innings Wednesday in a 5-1 loss to Justin Verlander and the Mets that dropped the Sox to 40-57 as the trade deadline draws nearer.
But there is a 2024 Sox rotation to consider, one that might not include Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn and Mike Clevinger from the unit that opened this season. Barring unforeseen trades — and anything is possible at this point — there’s Dylan Cease and Kopech for next year. Perhaps left-hander Garrett Crochet. And who knows what else.
And so Kopech, who was a key piece in the Chris Sale rebuild trade in 2016, needs to be good.
He takes a 4.47 ERA into the game as he tries to get beyond 4⅓ innings for the first time in five starts. For those who believe he’s better suited for the bullpen, Kopech said he didn’t mind it when he made 40 relief appearances in 2021.
“But I like starting too much to want that,” he said. “If I would end up going to the bullpen, I would embrace it with open arms, but what I want to do is what I’m doing now.
“The goal is to get back to [going deep into games] on a regular basis.”
On the subject of deep, Verlander pitched eight innings, allowing three hits, including Luis Robert Jr.’s 28th homer.
He walked one and struck out seven, throwing 100 pitches.
“It’s tough to hit somebody like that if you chase pitches,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “You can game-plan against anybody, but you have to stay in the strike zone.”
The Sox had scored 24 runs in their previous three games.
“Anytime you score one run, there’s nothing to be [excited] about,” Grifol said. “If we swing at balls in the strike zone, we’re good. If we’re not, we have to get back to doing what we’ve done the last three, four days.”
“We’re all talking about how he’s attacking us, what he’s trying to do,” said Gavin Sheets, who had one of the Sox’ three hits. “It seemed like tonight everybody had a little different story. He was attacking everyone individually.”
Seventeen games below .500 matches the season low for the Sox, who have lost eight of 11 and both games in this series.
