If Just For One Day

Ex-GM Rick Hahn had the last laugh, on and for Thursday at least. Two of his rebuild foundation pieces, Luis Robert Jr. and Michael Kopech, combined to beat ex-Sox Chris Sale, a pitcher so good that is stuff still electrifies at age 35, as witnessed by the one run he gave up while striking out eleven over seven innings. Here was baseball in all its random, beautiful glory. Four journeyman Sox pitchers shut out the Braves over eight innings, setting the stage for Kopech, traded in the package of prospects Boston sent to the South Side for Sale back in 2016. Miracle of miracles, Kopech pitched over a two-out error by shortstop Paul DeJong, who seems to have gone through life fielding everything to the side, and preserve a 1-0 victory. For the second game in a row, the Sox managed all of four hits, but at least one of them was a homer off the bat of Robert, signed as an international free agent by Hahn in 2017. Robert golfed an inside slider from Sale over the fence in left for his eighth homer in an injury-plagued season. Speaking of injuries, Eloy Jimenez, another Hahn building block, looks anything but healed from his latest hamstring problem. In fact, it could be affecting his hitting. That, or the baseball gods are waiting in all their random wisdom to pick Eloy to be the hero another day.