CHICAGO WHITE SOX NOTES:
WHITE SOX AT A GLANCE
The Chicago White Sox have lost 10 of their last 15 games as they continue a seven-game trip tonight at Los Angeles-AL.
RHP Michael Kopech is scheduled to start for the White Sox, who are in fourth place in the American League Central, 6.0 games off the pace set by division-leading Minnesota.
The Sox opened the trip last night with 2-1 loss to the Angels, as Mike Trout scored the winning run on Aaron Bummer’s wild pitch in the ninth inning.
Following this four-game series, the White Sox conclude the trip this weekend with three in Oakland (6/30-7/1) before ending the fi rst half with a six-game homestand vs. Toronto (7/4-6) and St. Louis (7/7-9).
The Sox went 3-3 on their last homestand vs. Texas (1-2) and Boston (2-1) from 6/19-25 and 2-4 on their last trip to Los Angeles-NL (1-2) and Seattle (1-2) from 6/13-18.
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
White Sox pitchers have struck out 10-plus batters in nine straight games, tying the club record set from 6/5-14/21.
Luis Robert Jr. has homered in three straight games for the second time in his career (four from 5/12-16/23) … Robert Jr. is hitting .333/.390/.760 (25-75) with nine home runs, 13 RBI and 15 runs scored over his last 20 games since 6/4.
Michael Kopech ranks sixth in the American League in strikeouts per 9.0 IP (10.32) and seventh in opponents average (.214).
The Sox lead MLB with a 3.23 ERA (128 ER/357.0 IP) in 40 games since 5/13 … the rotation ranks second in MLB during that span with a 3.36 ERA (80 ER/214.1 IP).
White Sox starting pitchers have allowed three runs or less in 12 straight games.
The Sox lead MLB in June with a 3.10 ERA (68 ER/197.1 IP) but are 29th with a .212 (156-735) average and 30th with 3.23 runs per game (71 runs) … all 22 of their games in June have been decided by four runs or less (11 by one run).
The White Sox are 6-25 at Angel Stadium since 5/18/13.
LAST NIGHT’S RECAP
Mike Trout scored on Aaron Bummer’s wild pitch with one out in the ninth inning as the Angels recorded a 2-1 victory over the White Sox in the series opener.
Trout and Shohei Ohtani walked to lead off the ninth and recorded a double steal … after Bummer struck out Brandon Drury, Trout scored on the wild pitch with Mike Moustakas at bat.
Luis Robert Jr. hit a solo homer (No. 22) off Reid Detmers in the first inning, but the Sox were limited to four baserunners the rest of the game.
Dylan Cease posted a ND despite allowing one run, an Ohtani solo homer in the fourth, on five hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts over 6.0 IP … he owns a 2.20 ERA (7 ER/28.2 IP) with 42 strikeouts over five starts in June.
Cease struck out 10-plus batters for the 16th time in his career, the third-highest total in franchise history behind Chris Sale (35) and Ed Walsh (17), and recorded his third career game with no walks and 10-plus strikeouts … he fanned Trout three times and Ohtani twice.
Joe Kelly struck out Taylor Ward and induced a Matt Thaiss GIDP in the seventh to strand a pair of inherited runners and preserve a 1-1 tie.
WHITE SOX VS. LOS ANGELES ANGELS
The Angels lead the season series, 3-1.
The White Sox are hitting .260/.308/.473 (34-131) with a 5.86 ERA (23 ER/35.1 IP) and have been outscored, 23-17.
The Angels have won six straight season series and 10 of the last 11 since 2011, with the Sox only win coming in 2015 (4-3).
The White Sox have not won a series against the Angels since 9/25-28/17 (three of four) in Chicago and have not won a series at Angel Stadium since 5/9-11/11 (two of three).
Luis Robert Jr. is a .347/.364/.573 (26-75) with four home runs and nine RBI in 18 career games against the Angels.
HOW THE WEST WAS WON
The Sox are 6-11 vs. the American League West this season, including a 3-5 record on the road.
The Sox went 18-16 vs. the division last season and 16-17 in 2021 … they are 18-24 on the road vs. the AL West since 2021.
ROTATION SENSATION
White Sox starting pitchers own a 3.36 ERA with a .225 opponents average in 40 games since 5/13 … during that span, they lead MLB with an average of 10.33 strikeouts per 9.0 IP and rank second in both ERA and opponents average.
During that 40-game stretch, Sox starters have made eight scoreless outings, have allowed one earned run 10 times and two earned runs eight times … the rotation since 5/13:
W-L ERA WHIP QS IP H R ER HR BB SO SO/9.0 AVG OPS
10-11 3.36 1.22 18 214.1 181 88 80 29 81 246 10.3 .225 .696
GRAB SOME BENCH
The White Sox lead the major leagues with an average of 9.77 strikeouts per 9.0 IP (769 SO/708.2 IP) this season, which would be the second-highest total in franchise history behind the 2021 club (10.18).
Sox pitchers have struck out 10-plus batters in 41 of 80 games (51.3 percent), including 15 or more six times (0-6 record).
Lance Lynn (4th, career-high 10.90), Dylan Cease (5th, 10.84), Michael Kopech (6th, 10.32) and Lucas Giolito (11th, 9.65) all rank among the AL leaders in strikeouts per 9.0 IP.
CLOSE CALLS
Thirty-five of the White Sox 80 games (43.8 percent) this season have been decided by two runs or less. The Sox are 12-12 in one-run games and 5-6 in two-run games … all 21 of their games in June have been decided by four runs or less, and their last win by more than four runs came on 5/26 at Detroit (12-3).
BULLPEN RELIEF
The White Sox bullpen has posted a 3.03 ERA (48 ER/142.2 IP) with a .186 (95-512) opponents average and 1.09 WHIP in 40 games since 5/13 … during that stretch, the bullpen leads MLB in opponents average, ranks third in WHIP and fifth in ERA.
The White Sox bullpen since 5/13: W-L ERA WHIP SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HR/9.0 AVG OPS 11-8 3.03 1.09 9 142.2 95 54 48 12 61 138 0.76 .186 .575
LONG BALL
The White Sox rank seventh in the American League this season with 92 home runs, including 22 over the last 12 games (19 solo), and are on pace to finish with 186.
By comparison, the Sox hit 65 homers over the first 80 games of 2022 and finished the season ranked 10th in the AL with 149.
Luis Robert Jr. (2nd, career-high 22) and Jake Burger (T6th, career-high 17) rank among the Top 5 in the AL this season.
RISING TO THE TOP
The White Sox are at the end of a stretch where they play seven consecutive series (22 games) from 6/6-29 against teams who are or above .500 (8-11 so far).
The stretch includes 13 games on the road against the Yankees (2-1), Dodgers (1-2), Seattle (1-2) and Angels (0-1) and nine at home vs. Miami (1-2), Texas (1-2) and Boston (2-1).
STARTING PITCHER – #34 MICHAEL KOPECH RHP
KOPECH AT A GLANCE
Is scheduled to make his 16th start of the season, seventh on the road and second vs. the Los Angeles Angels.
Owns a 2-2 record, 2.27 ERA (10 ER/39.2 IP), 1.01 WHIP, .175 (26-142) opponents average and 53 strikeouts in his last seven starts, including two 10-strikeout performances during that span.
Has recorded 5.0-plus IP in 10 of his 15 starts this season and 6.0-plus IP six times, allowing just one run in four of those outings.
Went 3-2 with a 2.75 ERA (11 ER/36.0 IP), 43 strikeouts and .148 (18-122) opponents average in six starts in May, compared to 0-3 with a 7.01 ERA (20 ER/25.2 IP), 1.71 WHIP and .280 (28-100) opponents average in five starts in April … ranked first in opponents average, second in strikeouts, tied for eighth in IP (36.0) and ranked 14th in ERA among American League leaders in May.
Is limiting left-handed hitters to a .186 (24-129) batting average this season, the ninth-best mark among AL right-handed pitchers.
Has received zero runs of support in four of his 14 starts this season and three or more just three times.
Has gone 10-16 with 3.72 ERA (95 ER/229.2 IP), .210 (176-837) opponents average and 237 strikeouts in 48 career starts … is 3-3 with 3.90 ERA (24 ER/55.1 IP), .225 (47-209) opponents average and 80 strikeouts in 40 career relief appearances.
Has recorded 100-plus strikeouts in each of his last two seasons (2021-22).
Spent his first full season in the major leagues in 2021, pitching out of the bullpen (40 games) while making four starts … opted out of the 2020 season for personal reasons … missed the entire 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery (performed on 9/18/18).
Was acquired by the White Sox from Boston with OF Luis Basabe, RHP Víctor Díaz and INF Yoán Moncada in exchange for LHP Chris Sale on 12/6/16.
LAST START
Suffered the loss on 6/21 vs. the Texas Rangers, allowing three runs on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts over 4.0 IP … threw 86 pitches (46 strikes).
Surrendered a two-run home run to Ezequiel Durán in the fourth that gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead … departed the game in the fifth with the Sox trailing, 3-1 … Chicago would go on to lose, 6-3.
Owned a 42.1 first-strike percentage and 7.0 swinging-strike percentage (eight swing and misses) vs. 19 batters … threw 49 four-seam fastballs (94.9 mph avg; 97.2 mph max), 26 sliders (85.3 avg; 87.5 max), 10 changeups (89.7 mph avg; 90.9 max) and one curveball (84.0 mph).
AN OUTING TO REMEMBER
On 5/19 against Kansas City, Kopech became the third pitcher in franchise history to work 8.0-plus IP and allow one or zero hits with 10-plus strikeouts and zero walks (Baseball Reference/Stathead).
The other two Sox to accomplish the feat are Floyd Bannister (9/13/87 at Seattle) and Gary Peters (7/15/63 vs. Baltimore).
The last MLB pitcher to record those numbers in a start was Toronto’s Alek Manoah on 9/13/21 vs. Tampa Bay.
DAMAGE CONTROL
Has limited the opposition to a career .189 (39-206) average with RISP and .207 (23-111) mark with RISP/ two outs.
Opponents are batting .197 (14-71) with RISP and .286 (12-42) with RISP/two outs against him this season … in 2022, opponents hit .149 (10-67) with RISP and .125 (5-40) with RISP/two outs.
HEATER ON AND RELIABLE
His four-seam fastball has held the opposition to a .199 (82-412) batting average, the fourth-lowest in Major League Baseball among starting pitchers since 2022 (min. 1,500 fastballs thrown) … opponents own a .213 (36-169) average on his fastball this season, third-lowest in MLB (min. 750 fastballs thrown).
Has the highest four-seam fastball usage (62.3%) among MLB starting pitchers this season (min. 750 fastballs thrown) … led MLB starters with at least 2,000 pitches thrown in four-seam fastball usage (61.6%) last season.
Owns a 29.6 swing-and-miss percentage with his four-seam fastball, the ninth-highest percentage in the majors this season among starting pitcher with at least
200 fastballs thrown.
His 56 strikeouts via the four-seamer are the fourth-most in baseball this year.
VS. LOS ANGELES ANGELS || A.L. WEST
Is scheduled to make his third career start (fifth appearance) vs. the Angels and second (third) in Anaheim.
Has gone 0-2 with a 6.52 ERA (7 ER/9.2 IP), 1.45 WHIP and .250 (10-40) opponents average over two career starts against the Angels.
Suffered the loss on 5/29, surrendering four runs on five hits over 4.1 IP … struck out 10 batters.
Is 1-7 with a 5.05 ERA (26 ER/46.1 IP), .250 (45-180) opponents average and 54 strikeouts over 11 career starts against the American League West.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS NOTES:
LEADING OFF: Today, the Angels play the second (1-0) of seven games on a homestand against the Chicago White Sox (1-0; June 26-29) and Arizona Diamondbacks (June 30 – July 2)…Halos went 1-2 on last road trip at Colorado…LAA was 0-2 on last homestand against the Dodgers.
TODAY’S TRANSACTIONS: Today the Angels reinstated INF Eduardo Escobar from the restricted list and optioned OF Jo Adell to Triple-A Salt Lake. SHO OFF: Tonight, Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to make his 16th career pitching start for the Angels while also leading the Majors in home runs as a batter…In 2021 he became the first player with multiple pitching starts in a season while leading Majors in homers since Babe Ruth in 1919.
HALFWAY THERE: Tonight is Game #81 on the season… Angels 43 wins are currently the most for the team at the halfway point since 2015 (43-38)…With a win today, 44 wins at the halfway point would be the most since 2014 (46-35).
WOAH, THAT’S WILD: Last night, Mike Trout scored the Angels walk-off run on a wild pitch…Halos now have two walk-off victories this season, with both coming on walk-off wild pitches…It is the third season in LAA history with multiple walk-off wild pitch wins (also, 1977 & 2015).
REID THIS: Last night was the fourth straight start for Reid Detmers with 8+ strikeouts and one-or-fewer runs allowed…The only other players with such a streak in Angels history are Nolan Ryan (twice) and Shohei Ohtani (2022). (credit: ESPN Stats & Info.)
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGHS: Saturday night at Colorado, the Angels set franchise records with 25 runs scored and 28 hits…Halos previously had 24 runs and 26 hits on Aug. 25, 1979 at Toronto and had 26 hits on June 20, 1980 at Boston…The 24 run margin of victory also set a Club record (previously was 22 in the 24-2 win vs. TOR
on 8/25/79).
THE BIG INNING: In the 3rd inning of Saturday night’s game, the Angels tied a franchise scoring record for an inning after plating 13 runs…Marked the third instance in Club history; also scored 13 runs in an inning on May 12, 1997 vs. White Sox (7th inn.) & Sept. 14, 1978 at Texas (9th inn.)…Halos also matched a Club record with four HR in an inning (also, 5th inn. on May 28, 2000 at Kansas City), including back-to-back-to-back HR by Mike Trout, Brandon Drury and Matt Thaiss on three straight pitches.
ESTÉVEZ ENDING: This season, Carlos Estévez is pitching to a 1.69 ERA (32 IP – 6 ER) and has converted all 19 of his save opportunities (the 19 saves are a new career high)…He has tied Lee Smith’s Club record from 1995 with 19 consecutive successful save chances to start a season.
STARTING STRONG: Angels starting pitchers have allowed three-or-fewer runs in 12 straight starts…Over that span (since June 13), the rotation ranks second in the Majors with a combined 2.24 ERA (72.1 IP – 18 ER).
VS. WHITE SOX: Angels lead the 2023 season series 3-1 after taking two of three games in Chicago from May 29-31 and winning last night’s series opener…Halos have won six consecutive season series vs. White Sox and 10 of last 11 season series overall…Since 2011, Angels are 54-28 (.659) vs. CWS, including a 32-11 (.744) mark at The Big A.
HIGHEST CAREER OBP vs. WHITE SOX
(min. 200 PA)
- Babe Ruth – .471
- Mike Trout – .451
- Ted Williams – .449
- Lou Gehrig – .446
- Jimmie Foxx – .445
LEAGUE LEADER: As a hitter, Shohei Ohtani leads the Majors in home runs (26), RBI (62), total bases (191), XBH (45), slugging percentage (.630) and OPS (1.009)…On the mound, he also leads the Majors in opponent batting average (.179), ranks fourth in strikeouts (117) and is eighth in WHIP (1.04).
PLAY FROM AHEAD: Halos have held leads in 63 of 80 games played this year (79%).
CATCHING ON: This season, Angels catchers rank tied for third in the Majors with 13 home runs and are fourth with a .773 OPS.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER – RHP SHOHEI OHTANI
6-3, 3.13 ERA
Making 16th career pitching start while leading Majors in home runs
- SHO TIME: Making 16th pitching start of the year and ninth at home…Is in sixth Major League season with LAA.
- LEAGUE LEADER: Enters today’s start leading the Majors in opponent batting average (.179), ranks fourth in strikeouts (117) and is eighth in WHIP (1.04).
- UNDER ONE: Has allowed one-or-fewer earned runs in eight of 15 starts.
- LAST TIME ON THE MOUND: Took the loss in last start on Wednesday vs. Dodgers after tossing 7.0 innings and allowing one earned run on five hits with two walks and 12 strikeouts…Sixth career start with 12+ strikeouts.
- 10 K: Since start of 2022 season, leads MLB with 15 games with 10+ strikeouts (has five this season – second-most in MLB)…Recorded 10+ strikeouts in 10 starts last season, which was the most such games in the A.L; joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in franchise history with 10+ strikeouts in at least six consecutive games.
- UNFAMILIAR: This season, is holding opponents to an .105 (12/114) average the first time through the order, a .267 (28/105) average the second time through the order and a .169 (15/89) average the third time through.
- VS. CHICAGO (A.L.): In two career starts vs. White Sox, is 1-0 with a 0.87 ERA (10.1 IP – 1 ER) and 18 strikeouts… Earned win in last start vs. Chicago on June 29, 2022 at Angel Stadium (W; 5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 SO).
- AT ANGEL STADIUM: In 41 career starts at The Big A, is 18-7 with a 2.11 ERA (247 IP – 58 ER) and 321 strikeouts… This season, is 3-2 with a 2.47 ERA (51 IP – 14 ER) and 69 strikeouts after eight starts…In 14 starts last season, was 7-4 with a 1.82 ERA (89 IP – 18 ER)…In 2021, went 6-0 with a 1.95 ERA (78.1 IP – 17 ER) and 93 strikeouts after 13 home starts.
- HOME SWEET HOME: Has a career 2.11 ERA (247 IP – 58 ER) in home games, which is the second lowest total of the last 100 years (min. 40 GS)…Only Miami’s José Fernández (1.49 ERA; 272.1 IP – 45 ER) has a lower home ERA.
