CHICAGO -- Michael Kopech wasn’t sure if it was visible on television, but he definitely made his case to manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Ethan Katz to return for the seventh inning of the White Sox 2-0 victory over Detroit on Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Why was the seventh so important to Kopech, who exited at 85 pitches? Well, it’s not every day a pitcher has a no-hitter working with only nine outs to go.

But Kopech’s innings are being monitored in his first season as a starter. This decision was more about a very bright present and even brighter future for the right-hander as opposed to moving closer to history.

“I thought I had a pretty decent chance, but they didn't want that to happen,” said Kopech, who also struck out a career-high 11 in his second career double-digit strikeout effort. “I'm at a point in the season where I've thrown a lot more innings than I did last year, so they want to rest me and make sure I'm healthy here for the next one.”

“We thought about it. But that’s as far as he should have gone,” La Russa said. “For this game, for the rest of the year, for the rest of his career. If you think I’m old school, I’m really new school. I would change the definition of a win. If we win the game, he’s got to get the win.”

The White Sox (57-56) claimed victory via a two-out, two-run single from Andrew Vaughn in the seventh, keeping them 3 1/2 games behind the also-victorious Guardians in the American League Central. Kopech walked three to go with his hitless performance.

Friday’s start marked the fifth time this season that Kopech has worked at least five innings and allowed one or no hits, which leads the Majors. The other four starts came against the Rays, the Dodgers and the Yankees twice.

“It tells me that I belong here, which is a good thing,” said Kopech of the no-hit number. “There are times where you're worried if your stuff will translate from the bullpen to the starting rotation. Obviously, some things have been different than they were last year.

“Velocity hasn't been up. Strikeout numbers haven't been up. Both of those were up a tick tonight. The fact that it played up, that I had decent success in location this year, just makes me satisfied moving forward.”

Kopech didn’t pitch in 2019 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He elected to not pitch in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened season. As a reliever with four scattered starts, Kopech threw 69 1/3 innings in ‘21 and exited Friday at 104 2/3 innings pitched in '22.

He topped out at 97.6 mph with his four-seam fastball on Friday and recorded 17 swings and misses of his 22 on that pitch, per Statcast. His spin rate also was up above his season average on the four-seamer.

“Much better stuff tonight across the board,” said Detroit manager A.J. Hinch of Kopech, who previously faced Detroit on April 10 and July 10. “He was pounding strikes and his stuff was pretty electric. No-hit through six, obviously it was his night, but we did help him in and around the strike zone."

That no-hitter disappeared quickly when Javier Báez singled to right off Reynaldo López to open the seventh, but La Russa had no issue with the decision he made with Katz.

“I knew it wouldn’t be popular, but I don’t have a regret,” La Russa said. “He wanted to go back out there, because he really had good command of his fastball. But you reach back for extra when you’re tired and get to that limit, bad things happen. Very difficult. I felt it was the right thing to do. It was my decision. Ethan felt the same way, if that helps.”

The goal for Kopech is to finish strong in this first year as a starter. With that goal in mind, he appreciates the constant communication between him and the coaching staff.

“What they were saying was, 'What's the difference between the sixth and the seventh if you're not going to go nine?'” Kopech said. “And I understand. I would have liked to have gone deeper, but the bullpen came in and did their job and we put some runs up and won the game, and that's what matters.”

“Watching him pitch from the outfield, I could see the ball moving from there,” Vaughn said. “That was unbelievable.”