Forty to Go

The White Sox lost, again, loss-number seventy-four coming last night in Colorado by a score of 14-1. The Rockies have a worse record than the Sox, by the way, if just by a game. Michael Kopech, staked to a 1-0 lead courtesy of an Elvis Andrus leadoff homerun, gave it all back, and then some, in the first inning. Walk; homerun; walk; double; groundout; homerun. That made the score 5-1, and counting. Kopech let in four two-out runs in the fourth to leave with a line of four innings pitched, nine earned runs allowed on six hits and four walks. Three of the hits were homers and two were doubles. Andrus collected three hits on the nights while the rest of the lineup managed one single, that by Andrew Vaughn. Luis Robert Jr. and Yoan Moncada combined for an 0-for-7 night, Moncada adding another two strikeouts on his season total of sixty-four. That’s a strikeout rate of thirty percent, based on at-bats. There’s no reason to pitch Kopech the rest of the season, unless Jerry Reindsorf is in my corner about losing the last forty games of the season (forty-two, actually). This is a mental thing affecting Kopech, addressed best by a willingness to admit that and seek counselling. Anything else will result in more of the same. But, hey, it could be worse. Double-A Birmingham lost 18-1 to Chattanooga, though the Barons did manage three more hits than the parent club. Speaking of worse, Jake Burger, the third baseman the Sox didn’t want, hit a three-run homer last night for the Marlins in their 11-3 win over the Dodgers. Burger has twenty-seven homers. Moncada has twenty RBIs. Who knew?