CHICAGO -- Michael Kopech battled for 4 1/3 innings and 96 pitches during a 7-6 White Sox loss to Milwaukee in 10 innings on Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The right-hander allowed four runs on five hits, while extending his single-season best strikeout total to 116 with four K's against the National League Central leaders. So, why was Kopech once again frustrated when meeting with the media postgame?

It’s because that battle is as much within himself as it is against the opposition.

“To be honest, I’m tired of talking to you guys about battling,” said Kopech, who described himself as a little out of control when asked how he felt on the mound. “Putting the team in a tough position where we are having to fight.

“A credit to the guys. Everybody came to play today. They made a game out of it. But I’ve got to clean it up.”

Kopech looked as if he was in for a short outing when he threw 30 pitches in the first inning, with just 11 for strikes. He walked three and gave up a William Contreras’ run-scoring single, but managed to limit the damage to one run by striking out Brice Turang to strand the bases loaded.

Victor Caratini’s second-inning home run was the only other damage until the fifth, when Milwaukee (63-54) scored twice to knock Kopech from the game. The right-hander, who pitched well enough to win in his last outing at Progressive Field on Aug. 5, didn’t look happy as he walked back to the dugout.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s a huge mechanical issue,” said Kopech, who has walked 39 over his last 38 1/3 innings. “I can go back and look at my mechanics and see I’m not being very consistent. It’s focus on one pitch at a time right now.

“I’ve talked to you guys about this before. I have a game where I’m able to do that and then have a game like that where I don’t carry that to my next one. I have four or five days to whenever my next one comes up and I’ll take care of that then.”

Friday’s loss dropped the White Sox (47-70) to 11-27 in series openers this season, with Milwaukee pushing across a run against Jimmy Lambert in the 10th. Eloy Jiménez homered, had three hits, drove in two and scored three, as the top five in the White Sox lineup produced nine of the 10 hits.

It was a solid fight coming up short. In Kopech’s particular case, the battle no longer can be the focus.

“I did my best to focus on the next pitch,” Kopech said. “That first inning, I wasn’t doing a great job of that. Ultimately, went out there and just fought with what I did have, which wasn’t much today.”

“This is not about workload,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “This is about him figuring some things out both physically and mentally and just continuing to focus on competing. And not lose track of what the objective is, which is 'You know what? I’m standing right here on the mound and I’m going to give you the best I’ve got. And if you beat me, you beat me. And if I beat you, I beat you. But I’m going to keep going.'”