2020 OOTP sim: Humiliation complete, as Sox swept in K.C.
KANSAS CITY — The White Sox had fireballing phenom Michael Kopech back from Charlotte to wreak some havoc, and two losses to start the series to exact some revenge for.
Instead, it was another impotent offensive showing, as the Royals manhandled the Good Guys for the third straight game, 6-1. As you might guess, the game was not as close as the final score indicated.
You could tell it would again be one of those games when Yoán Moncada led off the game with a resounding double into the right-field corner, but was stranded at third after two ground outs and a K.
The White Sox actually had a brief lead early, as José Abreu awoke from slumber with a two-out homer to left in the second inning. The homer, his first of the season, brought him to the .200 mark. An 0-fer the rest of the way sunk him back under the Mendoza Line, however.
Kopech was mostly fabulous — for three innings. Whit Merrifield slapped a single to left to greet his return to the majors, but Kopech racked up four strikeouts before the next K.C. hit, a Matt Szczur double in the third.
The fourth inning is where it all fell apart, for both the White Sox and Kopech. The youngster was pummeled, with two wild pitches sandwiched around a double tying up the score, with a Nicky Lopez homer to left pushing the score to 4-1 before the infield dust settled.
With the score at 6-1 and the sun setting fast on hopes of leaving the City of Fountains with any dignity, Tim Anderson stepped up with the sacks packed with one out in the seventh. Anderson whiffed, dropping his average to .216. For good measure, Moncada struck out, too.
Incidentally, Anderson also committed two more errors in the game, upping his team-high total to eight — and that's in only 42 games.
A day after committing 11 strikeouts against no walks against Danny Duffy and a cavalcade of mediocrity, the White Sox came back hard in the finale, to the tune of ... 11 Ks and one walk.
NOTES: Reynaldo López (4-0 in four starts, 40 Ks in 37 ⅔ innings, 1.19 ERA) was named the American League's Pitcher of the Month ... in the first round of the 2020 amateur draft, the White Sox selected Elk Grove, Calif. prep left fielder Chase Davis, who had a 1.586 OPS in 23 games this season.
