Kopech fires seven scoreless for Knights

Michael Kopech's first trip to Columbus' Huntington Park did not turn out as he might have hoped. On May 6, he issued four walks and hit a batter, allowing a pair of runs before his night ended after three innings. But he bounced back in a big way on Friday night.
The second-ranked White Sox prospect yielded two hits and two walks over seven innings in Triple-A Charlotte's 1-0 road win over Columbus. In his longest start in the International League and first scoreless outing since the season opener, Kopech (1-2) fell one short of his season high with nine strikeouts while lowering his ERA to 4.02.

"There was just some things from my last couple starts that I need to work through and I feel like I did that," MLB.com's No. 9 overall prospect said.
In addition to successfully locating a fastball that has a propensity to reach triple digits, Kopech was pleased with his newly developed curveball. He already boasts an above-average slider, which he said was also effective for him against the Clippers, but he didn't get the bite he was hoping for from his changeup.
"It was a night where three out of my four pitches were working for me," he said. "My changeup wasn't great tonight, but I did throw it in some counts where I was able to get some swings over it and just go take advantage of putting guys behind with that pitch."

He debuted at Triple-A for three starts last season, going 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 15 innings. He threw 119 1/3 innings for Double-A Birmingham prior to being promoted and finished with a 2.87 ERA and 155 strikeouts in 22 starts. His last scoreless outing of at least seven innings before Friday came in his final Southern League start last Aug. 12.
The 22-year-old fireballer had a good first few outings this year but labored in his previous three starts, allowing 13 earned runs over 12 1/3 innings while his opponents' batting average climbed from .189 to .223. He was charged with eight runs in 3 1/3 frames in his previous start against Durham on May 11 but felt he showed his best stuff before allowing seven runs in a fourth inning in which he felt "burnt." 
He and pitching coach Steve McCatty decided it would be best to give Kopech some extra rest, which set up his shot at redemption against the Clippers.
"I was fired up about it," Kopech said. "I was like, 'All right, let's go. I want it back.' It was a time for me to go back out there and get my redemption and get a chance to pitch well against a team that outplayed me that game."
Kopech pointed to continuous and ultimately unnecessary toying with his mechanics as the biggest reason for his recent struggles.
"It was just consistency and trusting my stuff and not trying to do too much," he said. "My mechanics have been pretty good all year and I was trying to adjust my mechanics too much, and it was causing me to create bad habits."
Gameday box score
According to Kopech, the fallout from his past difficulties carried into the first inning on Friday night. He said that the pressure to climb out of that hole distracted his focus and he didn't feel very comfortable at the start, sending the second pitch of the game to the backstop. Despite a one-out walk and whatever distress he felt, he managed to tally three strikeouts in the opening frame.
"With my stuff not feeling great in the first inning and me still being able to limit the wrongdoings, I felt really comfortable going into the second, when I did feel good," he said.
He settled in and recorded 14 outs before surrendering his first hit, a two-out double to center field by Adam Rosales in the fifth.
"I threw Rosales a pretty good pitch that I thought he would swing through," Kopech recalled. "Probably got a little too much of the plate, but he put a really good swing on it. Hats off to him for making contact on a pitch that I thought was one of the better pitches I had thrown to anybody that game."

A diving catch by center fielder Charlie Tilson on a blooper off the bat of Eric Stamets kept the game scoreless as Kopech struck out two in a perfect sixth.
Tilson's catch came after Clippers center fielder Brandon Barnes made his own full-extension grab, going back to the warning track to end the top of the frame. The Charlotte outfielder made a leaping play at the wall in the second, too, which caught the eye of his pitcher, who also applauded the defensive efforts of right fielder Mason Robbins.
"I don't like keeping those guys too busy out there, but the guys were making catches and we had a good thing going," Kopech said. "[Tilson] saved my game on that, and that's what's always good about a night like tonight when you have a lot of help from the guys behind you."

Melky Cabrera led off the Columbus seventh with a base hit up the middle and Kopech rebounded to punch out Eric Haase on three pitches. Top Indians prospectFrancisco Mejía walked, but the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder got the final two outs through the air to complete his outing in 102 pitches, 72 strikes.
"The fact that I didn't feel like I needed to mess with my mechanics the entire game because everything was kind of in a groove with how well [catcher Kevan Smith and I] were working together, I feel like that just put me in a comfort zone and got me deeper into the game," he said.
Kopech's only run support came on Tilson's infield single that scored José Rondón before an out was recorded in the first inning. 
The run was all Charlotte needed, despite a brilliant outing from Columbus starter Adam Wilk (1-4), who allowed five hits and two walks while fanning three in seven frames.