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PITTSBURGH — There wasn’t much offense Sunday at PNC Park.
But there were some brief fireworks in the form of a dust-up in the sixth inning of the Chicago White Sox’s 1-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of 10,571.
Pirates runner Oneil Cruz and Sox catcher Seby Zavala collided at home plate. Cruz was out on the fielder’s choice and remained on the ground while trainers checked on him as the Pirates and Sox exchanged words.
“It was a baseball play,” Zavala said. “I wasn’t too happy with how late the slide was. I was just talking to (Carlos) Santana about it. He didn’t like what I said, he said something I didn’t like. That’s what happened. I think in a couple of days everybody will forget about it.
“Didn’t want anybody to get hurt, didn’t want it to escalate that far. It escalated and can’t really do anything about it.”
The benches and bullpens emptied, but there were no ejections.
“Bottom line is we don’t want to see anyone get hurt,” Sox starter Michael Kopech said. “It was a late slide and we weren’t happy with the slide. We let that be known to (plate umpire) Laz (Diaz). Santana didn’t like what he was hearing. For the most part we were trying to deescalate the situation. Tough situation to see.
“I tried to turn Seby around, try to get him calmed down, and then as Seby’s back was turned Santana had some choice words for Seby. We had some choice words for him. He put his fist up like he was ready to fight. I’m not looking for a fight there, but everyone is looking for a fight until someone wants to fight him back.
“Things really escalated, somebody from their dugout put their hands on me. I’m not going to start things but I’m going to finish them. I’m not happy with the situation. We’ll say it’s the end of it.”
Cruz exited with a reported fractured ankle.
After the situation calmed down, Kopech went back to work to get out of the jam.
It was part of an impressive bounce-back performance for Kopech, who allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts and three walks in six innings.
“I know what I’m capable of,” Kopech said. “There is always room for improvement. Having a tough one like that (on April 3), kind of getting back to myself and knowing what my strengths are is a key. Glad to see my fastball playing well. I threw it with intent today.”
He became the second Sox starter to go at least six innings this season, joining Dylan Cease’s opening-day performance against the Houston Astros.
“I’m extremely pleased with Kopech and the way he went about it,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said, “not only prior to that sixth-inning altercation but even after with the way he was able to compose himself and get through that inning, which was very, very important.
“He had great rhythm, incredible tempo. He was aggressive. It was the Michael I’ve seen for a long, long time.”
Kopech rebounded from his first outing, when he allowed seven runs on eight hits, including five home runs, in 4⅔ innings in the April 3 home opener against the San Francisco Giants.
“After a tough one the first time out, the antsiness was there to get back out there,” Kopech said. “I was excited and ready to redeem myself. I had a hard slider, wouldn’t say it was a good slider, but I feel like playing to the fastball made the difference for me.”
Before Sunday’s game, Grifol lauded Kopech’s work between starts. It showed.
The only run he allowed came in the second. Canaan Smith-Njigba tripled with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Jack Suwinski.
“He mixed all his pitches, had really good sliders, his fastball was working,” Zavala said. “He did a hell of a job to keep us in the game.”
The Sox had been on a roll offensively but couldn’t get anything going against Pirates starter Johan Oviedo and three relievers. The Sox had six singles, three by Gavin Sheets, as the Pirates won two of three in the series.
“A good (outing) but tough to come out of it with the loss,” Kopech said. “The team battled. Their starter (Oviedo) pitched his (butt) off.”
The Sox announced Sunday they traded reliever José Ruiz to the Arizona Diamondbacks for cash considerations. The Sox had designated Ruiz for assignment Friday.
