GLENDALE, Ariz. — Michael Kopech found a groove near the conclusion of his second start of the spring for the Chicago White Sox.
The right-hander began the third inning of Wednesday’s Cactus League game against the Los Angeles Dodgers by striking out Chris Taylor swinging.
Max Muncy was up next, and Kopech struck him out swinging, as well. That was the last batter of the day for Kopech during the 12-9 loss at Camelback Ranch.
“Kind of felt like I was starting to get my feet under me right about the time my outing was finishing,” Kopech said. “Never want it to be the third (inning) before you feel that way. It’s a spring training outing and that’s OK, but in season I want to make an adjustment much sooner than that, for sure.”
Kopech allowed three runs, two earned, on two hits in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out three, walked three and hit one batter, facing the loaded Dodgers’ lineup that featured Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman at the top of the order.
“You know the kind of lineup you’re going to face going in,” Kopech said. “Obviously, I’d like to be a little bit more refined. But it’s still early. Go out there and try to attack with strikes instead of feeling like I’m kind of falling behind, fighting myself. Good lineup and it shows that when you don’t get ahead, what can happen. A good learning experience.”
Kopech said he’s OK with his stuff.
“I had a goal last season that I wanted to reshape my slider to where it would play a little harder and a little better off my fastball,” he said. “It’s starting to do that. It was 83-87 mph today, I would like it to be closer to 87.
“When I keep it down, it plays off my fastball pretty well. Happy with the shape of my pitches, but I have to be a little more consistent.”
Kopech tossed two scoreless innings and struck out five in his first start on March 1 against the Cubs at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz.
Coming into his second start, Kopech concentrated on throwing all his pitches for strikes.
“I did that with everything other than (the) cutter,” he said. “The slider ended up backing up a couple of times, but I still threw some good ones. Landed some curveballs, fastball was a little inconsistent today and that’s going to be a big part of my game, fastball command.
“Other than that, I was pretty comfortable with what I did. But I’ve got to throw more strikes.”
Kopech walked Betts to begin the game and, with Ohtani batting, threw a wild pitch. Ohtani later reached on an infield hit, with Betts moving to third. Betts scored on a sacrifice fly by Freeman to left field.
Kopech limited the damage with a strikeout and — following a walk — got a nice defensive play by second baseman Nicky Lopez on a grounder by James Outman for the final out.
Kopech walked and hit a batter with one out in the second. Ohtani had an RBI single during the two-run inning.
“It’s always fun to face him,” Kopech said. “He’s got me a few times. I know him being a professional, I have to get ahead in the count for him not to have any leverage. Today, the first at-bat I had a pretty good pitch 3-2 and he still got a good bat to it. Another one I fell behind and he hit another one up the middle.
“He’s a good hitter, you have to take every bit of leverage that you can. It would be nice to do that with all the hitters.”
Manager Pedro Grifol has said it’s too soon to talk about the rotation, adding that the Sox are continuing to get Kopech “built up to be one of our starters.”
“Right now, everybody is just competing,” Grifol said. “We’re building him up.”
“I’ve done both roles, I’ve enjoyed doing both, I’d like that, stretching out and being part of this rotation but I want to be part of the team however I fit in,” Kopech said.
Kopech knows one of the keys to any outing is efficiency.
“It’s a process right now, with spring being about halfway through, we’re finding the adjustments that (we) need to make and hopefully will take into the season,” Kopech said.