I don't think Michael Kopech's recent problems can be attributed to boredom or stagnation anymore.
Kopech had his most disastrous outing as a member of the White Sox organization on Tuesday night. He issued eight walks, plunked two batters and threw five wild pitches over three innings in the Knights' 6-4 loss to the Norfolk Tides. He gave up five runs, and it could've been more considering he threw just 35 of 86 pitches for strikes.
He survived his wildness in the first, as he hit Steve Wilkerson and threw two wild pitches with one-out, but came back to get a pair of strikesouts. He also danced out a wild second, stranding a pair of one-out walks with a pair of groundouts.
It all caught up to Kopech during a three-run third, and he got the hook after starting the fourth with a pair of walks.
This was Kopech's third straight start marred by control issues, and he's got a horrible line -- 11 IP, 12 H, 14 R, 14 ER, 17 BB, 14 K, 3 HBPs -- over this stretch. His Twitter account indicates there was a death in the family before the first of those starts, and while I hesitate to mention it because I don't want to speculate on the strength of the connection, I can't find anything else that's awry.
Lest we continue too far down this path, at least Dane Dunning and Dylan Cease delivered tonight.
Norfolk 6, Charlotte 4
- Avisail Garcia homered, doubled and struck out twice.
- Michael Kopech: 3 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 8 BB, 2 K, 5 WP, 2 HBP, 35 of 86 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 3, Chattanooga 0
- Danny Mendick went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Zack Collins doubled, walked and struck out twice.
- Eloy Jimenez went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
- Seby Zavala singled in all four trips to the plate.
- Jameson Fisher went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Dane Dunning: 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K, 68 of 97 pitches for strikes.
- Ian Hamilton: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.
Winston-Salem 8, Wilmington 2
- Joel Booker went 0-for-4 with an HBP.
- Alex Call was 0-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout.
- Luis Alexander Basabe singled, walked and struck out twice. He also stole a base.
- Micker Adolfo went 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
- Gavin Sheets was 1-for-4.
- Yeyson Yrizarri went 2-for-4 with a double, and was picked off.
- Dylan Cease: 8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP, 70 of 106 pitches for strikes.
More:
*Winston-Salem locked in the first-half championship with a record of 40-27.
Delmarva 6, Kannapolis 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Luis Robert went 0-for-2 with a walk.
- Justin Yurchak and Luis Curbelo were both 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Carlos Perez was 0-for-2.
- Blake Battenfield: 5 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP
- Will Kincanon: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
Delmarva 8, Kannapolis 4 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Luis Robert went 0-for-4.
- Justin Yurchak was 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Luis Curbelo went 0-for-2 with a walk, HBP, strikeout and two errors.
- Evan Skoug went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- John Parke: 4 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP
DSL Padres 7, DSL White Sox 2
- Jose Rodriguez is still hitting: 3-for-4 with a double and a strikeout. He's hitting .413 and stole his fifth base as well.
