It was a spring game for the White Sox on Friday night in Anaheim, starting with their first win of 2021 with a 12-8 victory over the Angels at Angel Stadium.
Michael Kopech played in a regular season game for the first time since September 5, 2018.
Tony La Russa has won a managerial game for the first time since the Cardinals claimed the 2011 World Series over the Rangers. And Yermin Mercedes, who had only one beat before, scored his first big start in the league, not only with his first career success, but also with his first game with five hits.
Mercedes joined Cecil Travis of Washington (May 16, 1933) as the only MLB players in the Modern Age to have five hits in their first career starts.
“There were definitely smiles everywhere. Most of them from Yerm “, said Kopech from Mercedes’ big night. “It was really cool, man. I want everyone on our team to be successful, and a guy like this who wants to make his debut for a long time to appear and make history is crazy. Is awesome.”
Kopech, who last appeared as a starter before undergoing surgery on Tommy John, protected a 7-6 lead, throwing a perfect sixth and seventh inning. The left side threw 21 of his 33 shots on goal, blew three and exceeded 99.4 mph with his fast balloon on Statcast. He also mixed in 10 sliders. The left went after Mike Trout walked to open the eighth, but Evan Marshall and Liam Hendriks completed the frame without a score.
Friday’s effort marked Kopech’s second career victory in his fifth career appearance.
“I didn’t even know I won. I thought it was Foster’s, “said Kopech, referring to Matt Foster, who almost fired from a fifth-half block in relieving starter Dallas Keuchel, but allowed the two legacy runners to score in the Adam Eaton’s two-three, three-base error in the right field. “Great. I’m excited about that. ”
“The number one reason he was there, we think, could help us,” said La Russa in Copenhagen. “The more he threw, the more obvious it was that we were going to ride him.”
At Russa, meanwhile, he won 2,729 as a manager and his first with the White Sox in 1986. The White Sox won 7-1 behind José Abreu’s third career Grand Slam – giving him 199 points. homers in general – but watched the Angels reduce the deficit to one by scoring six runs (three won) from Keuchel in several innings.
Hendriks won his first White Sox save by throwing 1 1/3 innings with two goal kicks and two runs allowed on Shohei Ohtani’s 9th inning. He received an assist from Luis Robert in the eighth, as the central player fired in Jose Iglesias’ long journey to the center-right field, with two runners and two outs.
So, it was a rewarding experience for La Russa, who will manage the regular season game no. 5,095. But it was not an easy one.
“I’m excited. That’s why I’m scoring,” La Russa said. “For the boys to come out today and let them go, as we did, and for them to come close, they have a very good team there, and for us to stay there, they took some of the heroes out of our rescuers, it’s well deserved. It was so dubious that I’m only now starting to enjoy it. “
After going 14-0 against the Southpaw starters in 2020, the White Sox improved to 1-0 against left-handed starters this season, defeating Andrew Heaney. The White Sox did not lose in front of a game started by a left-hander on September 28, 2019, when Tyler Alexander left for the Tigers, although he did not take into account the final decision.
Regular suspects, such as Abreu and Tim Anderson, who began a new five-round streak, contributed to Southpaw’s continued dominance. But Mercedes, which added four RBIs to its five hits, was a new addition to offensive firepower.
“So I don’t want to do too much,” said an ecstatic Mercedes. “Every time I want to stay in my space, to stay there. You have a shot or two shots just sit there, don’t do too much. That’s what I’m thinking. “
“It made history,” Abreu said through interpreter Billy Russo. “We, as the White Sox, must be very proud of what he has done today.”