White Sox: Michael Kopech dominated his way through eight innings

The Chicago White Sox lost their most recent game coming into Friday but they took two of three from the Cleveland Guardians. Obviously, that was a very successful series for them. 

The home stand continued on Friday, however, as the Kansas City Royals were in town. The Royals are bad but they took three of four from the White Sox about a week ago so they are not to be taken lightly. 

In this first game of the series, Michael Kopech was on the mound. He has had some ups and downs this season but he is looking for the form as a starter that made him an elite prospect and then reliever after that. 

Well, this was one of the best games of his career up to this point. He went 8.0 innings strong with one hit. He also didn’t allow a single run over this 8 innings and had 10 strikeouts. It was a dominant performance. 

The Chicago White Sox needed that performance from Michael Kopech.

The Royals don’t have this great offense but seeing Kopech’s velocity get close to 100 is what made this start impressive. KC is also a Major League team that has lots of great hitters that can make poor pitching pay. His stuff would have shut down anyone in this one. 

Kendall Graveman came in and got the save for the White Sox. He just needed to get three outs in the 9th inning to preserve the win for the White Sox and Kopech. 

The White Sox offense was a bit quiet in this one as they only had five hits and two runs but it was just enough thanks to Kopech. 

If Kopech can build off of this performance, there could be some big-time moments for him in his career. He has always had the stuff in there but he needs to bring it out more consistently. He was locked in and ready to go. It showed on the stat sheet. 

On Saturday night, Lucas Giolito will look to keep the good vibes going on the mound. The White Sox are trying to get back in the AL Central race so every win means a lot.