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If Michael Kopech respects all the hype, there will be many very good nights, no matter how much it rains.
But rain or sunshine on Wednesday was going to be a bad night for the 22-year-old flamethrower.
The reason? No flames.
Kopech just did not have it Wednesday, something that happens to the best pitchers of the game, and that certainly happens that the recruits make only their fourth start in the major league.
Ridiculously, another delay of rain accompanied this last exit of Kopech, the third time that there were so many departures in front of home fans at the guaranteed rate field. But the rain was not short. Kopech did it himself, dropping seven points on nine hits, four of which were circuits, including a trio of long balls sent from the park into a four-shot span in a fourth nightmarish round.
After the weather cut his first two home starts, respectively two and three innings, this one lasted only 3.1 innings.
"Obviously, I did not have my best stuff, and other than that, I could not find the ball either," said Kopech after the match, breaking the recipe for the disaster. "I missed a lot of points and we took advantage of it, which will happen when I do not start as I should.
"I was running as if I had thrown 100 and I was throwing 93, 94. I can not miss the spots with that kind of velocity, and other than that, the things I had tonight were were not great. So I was put to use.
Although we have not seen much of the 100-mph heat that has been so often discussed before the start of Kopech's major league, it's obviously a remarkable tool in Kopech's toolbox. It was not there Wednesday, though, and the Tigers did what Kopech said: they took advantage of it. Two of the home races went over 430 feet, a visual representation of the layman how easy it was for the batters to do their job against Kopech tonight.
"Today there was more of a hit the fastball approach," he said. "I feel like it's a lot of people approaching me in general. When I do not have the fastball that I have a lot of times and go out on the hunt for fastballs, it's going to be hit. "
While this is certainly not the kind of start that will help Kopech meet the incredibly high expectations that fans expect from him and that he has for himself, it's not a horrible omen. Bad nights arrive.
"You will not always be as keen on every outing," said manager Rick Renteria. "He tried to cross it. Today it was one of those days. I told him, "Hey, there are a lot of better days ahead of you, so I will not worry about this one."
Of course, this will not do any good for Kopech's short-term numbers. He came in after giving only one run to his first 11 innings. This score of 0.82 climbed to 5.02 by the closed book on Wednesday.
Kopech attributed the difficult evening, at least partially, to a lack of proper preparation. And although it's hard to take something after a massacre like Wednesday's, it's possible that one of Renteria's "learning moments" is often mentioned here.
"I just wanted to get into the game, there were things I needed to improve, which I had not done. I did not feel well prepared for the trip, and it shows. Just better preparation and I need to go out and take care of my business and, as I said, unload the ball, help the team to to win.
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