2020 OOTP sim: Morton, Rays trip Sox in rubber game
CHICAGO — Michael Kopech pitched very well for the White Sox on Thursday. Unfortunately, white-hot Rays hurler Charlie Morton was even better, beating the South Siders, 5-0.
Morton entered the rubber game of the series at 4-0 on a bad Tampa team, with an AL-best 1.42 ERA and 0.82 WHIP. He handcuffed the White Sox over eight innings, allowing just two hits, two walks and a hit batsman, for an 84 game score. Morton now has five of 16 Rays wins.
Only Yoán Moncada (single) and Nomar Mazara (double) touched Morton in the game.
Kopech was strong, if inefficient. He lasted just four innings but was strong overall: six Ks, one walk, one hit and no runs, for a 65 game score.
The game was scoreless until the seventh inning, when Steve Cishek entered and continued his slump, loading the bases on a single-walk-single. Aaron Bummer was summoned with the bases full and one out, and surrendered a two-run single to ninth-place hitter Mike Zunino, giving Tampa all the offense they'd need tonight.
Kelvin Herrera came on in the ninth and gave up three earned runs, snapping his strong comeback from two awful outings to open the season. Herrera, who has a 6.92 ERA over nine games this season, was placed on waivers after the game. It's the second time this season Herrera has been waived, and it's expected that the White Sox will have to eat the remaining $7 million or so left on his deal.
The roster move was made necessary by the return on Lucas Giolito to start the series opener in San Francisco on Friday. Giolito, who injured his right biceps muscle in his second start of the season, replaces Reynaldo López in the rotation. López will move to the bullpen, sharing a start with Kopech during his turn in a de facto six-man rotation. López will be tested in higher-leverage short relief opportunities as well.
Actor (final credit: murdered by Albert Einstein in "Carnage Hall"), musician (Ethnocentric Republicans), and Nerf hoops champion, Wiffleball aficionado and onetime bilingual kindergarten teacher, Brett Ballantini also writes about baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey, for the NBA, MLB, NHL, and Slam, Hoop, Sporting News, the Athletic, SB Nation and others. He was CSN Chicago’s Blackhawks beat writer when their 49-year Stanley Cup drought ended in 2009-10, and took over the White Sox beat after that. He currently is the editor-in-chief of South Side Hit Pen and beat writer for Inside the Rays. He also wrote a book about Ozzie Guillén but is running out of space, so follow him on Twitter @BrettBallantini and he'll probably tell you even more about himself than you ever wanted to know.
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