Michael Kopech’s return didn’t go as planned but the White Sox won

The Chicago White Sox came into Wednesday afternoon’s game in a series split with the Seattle Mariners. In order to stay in the race for the American League Central title, they need to keep winning baseball games at a high clip.

Michael Kopech came back from injury to make the start in this one. He was a bit off and his defense did him no favors so you can say that his return didn’t go as planned. He left after going for just 3.2 innings where he allowed four runs on four hits with two walks.

Kopech had four strikeouts which are nice because his stuff had the potential to be good but he wasn’t able to keep the runs off the board. When he left the game, there were two outs and a runner on second and third but Jose Ruiz left Kopech’s runners stranded.

Before Kopech left, the White Sox also managed to get two runs on the board so they trailed 4-2. With Abreu on base because of a walk, Eloy Jimenez hit a baseball very far to get the White Sox those two runs. They knew upon Kopech’s departure that they needed to mount a comeback.

Michael Kopech’s tough start didn’t do the Chicago White Sox any favors.

In the top of the sixth inning, they got hot and scored four runs to give the White Sox a 6-4 lead. It was a combination of clutch hitting from Elvis Andrus, Jose Abreu, Eloy Jimenez, Gavin Sheets, and Andrew Vaughn to get it done. It appeared from there as if they’d be in a good spot for the rest of the game.

In the same inning, however, Jake Diekman and Joe Kelly got into some trouble which allowed one run to score. However, they got out of it with a 6-5 lead. Nobody said that this game was going to be easy at any point.

The lead didn’t last very long at all as Aaron Bummer came in relief for the first time in a few months as he just returned from injury. He was greeted with a big-time home run from Eugenio Suarez that went the other way to tie the game at 6.

After that, Bummer got himself into a bit of trouble thanks to a walk and a single for Seattle. He got out of it thanks to a couple of strikeouts and a ball hit to Yoan Moncada who just stepped on third base to end the inning.

The Chicago White Sox came out in the 8th inning needing to get the lead back. The offensive explosion continued with a big home run from Gavin Sheets who has been amazing over the last few weeks. The team needed that badly.

They added some extra runs in the 9th inning to make it 9-6 and Liam Hendricks shut the door to earn the save. It was a great comeback win for the White Sox that was never easy. This team is in the thick of the division race and they just took a big series over a very good team.

Seattle had the best record in the AL since June 1st coming into the series. Now, the White Sox will head to face the Oakland A’s who is one of the worst teams in the AL. They need to bring their best to win but this is a huge chance for them to gain even more ground. This big series win is huge for them.