Jack Kochanowicz pitches 7 scoreless innings in Angels’ loss to White Sox

CHICAGO — Rookie right-hander Jack Kochanowicz has been a bright spot for the Angels this season, and he continued to impress with a strong showing in possibly his final start of the year.

The White Sox looked headed toward a record-breaking 121st loss of the year with the Angels up by two runs in the eighth inning, only for Jack López to make a tough blunder on a pop up in the same inning he hit his first career homer. It cost Kochanowicz and the Angels the potential victory and left López disheartened after the defeat.

“I just dropped it,” López said. “It cost Jack a win. It’s just a tough one to swallow.”

With the Angels up two runs, reliever Hunter Strickland struggled on his 36th birthday, allowing a run on a double from Bryan Ramos before walking Lenyn Sosa with one out. Lefty Brock Burke came in to protect a one-run lead and got Nicky Lopez to fly out to right field before inducing a pop up from Luis Robert Jr. that looked like it was going to end the inning and the scoring threat.

But López couldn’t handle the pop fly from Robert, as he never seemed comfortable tracking it and the ball dropped in for what was ruled a game-tying RBI single. Andrew Benintendi followed with a go-ahead RBI single that helped the White Sox to their first win this year when trailing after seven innings. With five games left, the Angels are now at 94 losses, which is one away from the franchise record of 95 set in 1968 and ’80.

“You can see what happened, he drifted with it,” manager Ron Washington said. “When the ball goes up like that, you’ve got to beat the ball to where it’s going. So you’ve got to run and get behind it and then work your way back to it. I saw he was in trouble the way he was backpedaling. And then he didn’t come up with it.”

It spoiled the start for Kochanowicz, who scattered just three hits and struck out four. He’s been on quite a run since struggling in his first two starts, as he’s been the club’s most consistent starter since getting called back up on Aug. 11.

Kochanowicz allowed 11 earned runs in seven innings over his first two outings but has bounced back to post a 2.63 ERA in 51 1/3 innings over his last eight starts. He has a 4.01 ERA in 10 outings this season and it’s put him in a strong position heading into next year.

“He was outstanding,” Washington said. “They worked him pretty good his last inning but he got through it and he did his job. He didn’t need to come back out there for the eighth. He had done his job and we had fresh arms. Strick was our most senior guy and he was facing the bottom of the lineup.”

Kochanowicz could make one final start on normal rest on Sunday against the Rangers but he’s thrown 160 1/3 innings combined between the Majors and Minors this year after throwing 94 frames in the Minors in ’23. He said he still hasn’t been told the plan just yet but that he’s feeling fine physically.

“I feel great,” Kochanowicz said. “I feel like I’m getting better every year and I take care of myself. So nothing to complain about. I feel great.”

With his ability to generate quick outs with his sinker, Kochanowicz has been incredibly efficient in his outings. He needed just 82 pitches to get through seven frames on Tuesday after throwing 79 pitches to make it through seven innings last Wednesday.

Kochanowicz generated 11 outs via ground balls while throwing first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 23 batters he faced. It’s been a recipe for success for him despite a modest strikeout total. But the Angels and Kochanowicz believe more strikeouts will come with experience and he’s proving his power sinker that averaged 95.9 mph and touched 97.6 mph against the White Sox plays at the Major League level.

“It’s been good,” Kochanowicz said. “It’s been good to just kind of build some confidence. Just know where my feet are at. And just building into the next year, it just gives me some good confidence.”