Kopech, Patiño dominant on mound

One electric young arm turned in his longest Major League outing in three years. Another pitched a single time through the order in his 2021 debut. Both were dominant.

White Sox righty Michael Kopech struck out a career-high 10 batters over five innings, and Luis Patiño was nearly perfect his first time on the mound for the Rays as part of Sunday action around the big leagues.

Kopech came out of the bullpen for his first four appearances this season before making his first start on April 18. One week later, the White Sox got a look at what he’s capable of in the rotation. Baseball’s 34th-overall prospect scattered four hits over five innings, allowing one run while racking up strikeout after strikeout.

Three of the four hits Kopech allowed were singles, the lone exception being David Dahl’s solo homer to right-center in the second inning. On the contrary, the first seven outs the right-hander recorded were on strikeouts, five of them swinging, and Kopech fanned multiple batters in every inning except the fifth. Chicago’s No. 2 prospect reached 98.6 mph with his four-seam fastball according to Statcast data and got 10 swings and misses on 26 times throwing it.

Overall, Kopech threw 60 of his 87 pitches for strikes and faced three batters over the minimum.

In Tampa, the Rays got their first look at Patiño on a big league hill. With his parents in attendance, baseball’s No. 16 prospect walked the first batter he faced before locking in. Patiño retired the next eight men he saw, three via strikeouts, before exiting after 2 2/3 innings pitched. The righty threw 42 pitches, 30 for strikes, utilizing a fastball-slider-changeup mix.

The Rays acquired Patiño as the centerpiece of last year’s offseason trade that sent Blake Snell to the Padres. The 21-year-old from Colombia pitched 11 regular-season games for San Diego last year, making one start, and also worked three games out of the bullpen during the playoffs.

More notable performances from rookies on Sunday:

Garrett Crochet, LHP, CWS (MLB No. 48)
The third-ranked White Sox prospect made his longest outing of the year against the Rangers with three shutout innings of relief. Crochet worked around three hits and a walk while striking out one to earn his third hold of the season. It was the third straight appearance for the 21-year-old without allowing a run, and Crochet is now sporting a 1.00 ERA with eight punchouts over eight appearances (nine innings) this year. More »

Dylan Carlson, OF, STL
Make that two straight three-hit games for the Cardinals rookie. Carlson not only doubled down on his trio effort, but Sunday’s performance included an extra-base knock and an RBI. After punching a ground ball back up the middle for a single in the first, the 22-year-old drove in a run with a base hit into center in the fifth. He concluded his afternoon by lacing a two-bagger to right in the eighth before being plated by Paul Goldschmidt six pitches later. Carlson is now 7-for-11 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI over his last three games. Gameday »

Nick Maton, INF, PHI
There’s hot and then there’s the start that Maton is off to in his big league career. The No. 18 Phillies prospect has not only hit safely in all six games he’s played in, but his last four contests have all been multi-hit performances. On Sunday, the 24-year-old reached base three times, with a walk in the second inning and a pair of base hits in the seventh and ninth. Maton is now sporting an eye-popping .500/.542/.636 slash line with three doubles, an RBI and a run scored. Gameday »

Jordan Sheffield, RHP, COL
Sheffield posted another goose egg to start his career in the bigs. The righty worked around a one-out single from Nick Maton by getting Mickey Moniak to send a can of corn to left and whiffing Alec Bohm and Brad Miller. The 29th-ranked Rockies prospect needed just 14 pitches to get through the frame and extended his scoreless streak to six straight outings this year. Sheffield has yet to issue a walk and has yielded two hits over 5 2/3 total frames – limiting opponents to a .105 average while amassing a 0.35 WHIP. Gameday »

Pavin Smith, INF/OF, ARI
The 15th-ranked D-backs prospect collected four hits across a twinbill on Sunday. Smith notched his first triple of the season in Game 1 before leading off Game 2 with his second dinger of the year. He added a pair of base knocks in the second game to raise his average to .288. Smith also extended his hitting streak to four straight games where he is 7-for-17 with a homer, a triple, a pair of doubles, four runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Gameday (Game 1) », Gameday (Game 2) »

Zac Lowther, LHP, BAL
Lowther made his MLB debut against the A’s, tossing a scoreless ninth inning to shut the door on Oakland’s 13-game winning streak. The lefty allowed a single to Jed Lowrie to lead off the inning but regained his composure to set down the heart of the A’s order, punching out Matt Chapman to end the game. Baltimore’s No. 11 prospect led the Eastern League in strikeouts in 2019, setting down 154 batters in 148.0 innings of work. More »

Sam Hentges, LHP, CLE
The 25th-ranked Indians prospect made his second appearance in The Show against the Yankees and kept the Bronx Bombers at bay. The southpaw worked around a pair of hits to post 1 2/3 scoreless frames of relief and earn his first career victory. Hentges also whiffed Gio Urshela with a runner on third to end the fifth inning. The 24-year-old has allowed one run on three hits and fanned four over 2 2/3 frames this season. Gameday »

Sheldon Neuse, INF, LAD
The 19th-ranked Dodgers prospect had one at-bat, saw one pitch and made the most of it. Neuse pinch-hit for the pitcher’s spot to lead off the sixth and clobbered a 78.6 mph changeup from Nick Ramirez -- who also had just entered the game -- to straightaway center for his second career home run. The blast started a five-run frame for Los Angeles. The 26-year-old clubbed his first dinger Thursday against the Padres. He did not go yard in 34 Cactus League at-bats this spring. Gameday »

Chris Rodriguez, RHP, LAA
Rodriguez earned his first career win in the Angels 4-2 victory over the Astros. The Angels No. 4 prospect tossed a scoreless seventh inning to lower his ERA to 3.18, striking out two and walking one. Rodriguez has been a trusted weapon for Joe Maddon to deploy out of his bullpen this year, throwing 11 1/3 innings with 16 strikeouts while yielding a .190 batting average against. Gameday »

Nick Madrigal, 2B, CWS
The 24-year-old notched his second multi-hit effort in the last three games. Madrigal led off the second inning with hit a laser to right that was mishandled by Joey Gallo and allowed him to advance an extra base on the E9. He quickly came in to score three pitches later on a double by Tim Anderson. In the next frame, with two on and no out, Madrigal emptied the bases with his second triple of the year and scampered home on a sacrifice bunt by Adam Eaton. Madrigal is batting .308/.361/.415 over 19 games this season. Gameday »

Ljay Newsome, RHP, SEA
Newsome tossed four innings in relief during Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the Red Sox. The Mariners rookie scattered two hits and struck out four, lowering his ERA to 1.69. Newsome has shown excellent command so far this season, striking out 11 while only allowing one walk. The righty has been used as a long reliever in all four of his appearances, and his four innings thrown was his longest outing of the season to date. Gameday »