Giants 6, White Sox 3: Too Little, Too Late

Mar 24, 2023 - 12:09 AM

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It’s a tale as old as time: The White Sox offense showed signs of life in the eighth inning, but it would not be enough to defeat the Giants this afternoon at Camelback Ranch. The 6-3 loss drops the Chicago ball club to 10-12 for the spring.

Starting pitcher Michael Kopech, was tagged with the loss, going just three innnings. Kopech seemed to struggle with control and rhythm his entire outing. He finished the day walking four batters, striking out three, and giving up five runs on seven hits. The five arms that came out of the bullpen after Kopech held the fort, pitching six innings of one-run ball.

Kopech did work out of runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the first inning, and then a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the top of the second. With all that traffic the scoring had to start at some point, though, and the righthander’s luck ran out in the top of the third inning. Blake Sabol hit a double to right field to get things started with one out. Brett Wisely followed this up with a walk, and Will Wilson brought everyone home with a three-run home run to left field.

Seby Zavala answered in the bottom of the inning with his own home run to left field, to cut San Francisco’s lead to just two runs.

Kopech clearly ran out of steam in the top of the fourth, giving up three back-to-back singles that resulted in San Francisco’s fourth run of the game. Kopech departed, responsible for the runner on first and third. Sabol hit a sacrifice fly to score Bryce Johnson before the inning came to a close on a Wisely strikeout.

Interrupting this recap to let you know that Steve Stone revealed on the broadcast this afternoon that he used to sell plan-ahead funerals during his playing days in the offseason. Jason and Steve got a good laugh on their last broadcast of the spring picturing a young Stone going door-to-door selling these packages.

Now where were we? Oh yes, the Giants scored their sixth and final run of the game in the top of the seventh inning, on a Wisely solo home run.

The White Sox, who hadn’t had a baserunner since the bottom of the fifth inning, scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. The first run came on solo homer from Romy González. Romy, who is fighting for an Opening Day roster spot, has been struggling this spring, so it was good to see him flash some power.

The final run of the day was scored by Jake Marisnick. Marisnick, who got on via a double to left field, came around on a Moisés Castillo single.

Sean Manaea had a nice afternoon against the White Sox. The left-handed pitcher went six innings. He allowed just one run, walked one, and struck out three.

The White Sox have just five games left before they pack up and head to Houston to open up the season. With all players back with the team after the World Baseball Classic, these last five Spring Training contests will prove important for the team to all get on the same page. This will start with a game in Mesa, Ariz. tomorrow against Oakland — and lucky me, I’ll be back to present it to you.

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