Kopech (4-9) was tagged with the loss against Houston on Wednesday, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out two batters over six innings.
Kopech wasn't dominant in the outing -- he induced just seven swinging strikes and fanned only two batters -- but he kept Chicago in the game with his third quality start over his past four outings. However, opposing starter Framber Valdez recorded his 20th straight quality start and allowed one fewer run to send Kopech to defeat. Despite the loss, the right-hander continued a recent run of solid pitching -- he has given up three or fewer earned runs in eight of his past 10 starts. He has a poor 43:28 K:BB across 48 innings during that stretch, however, and his strikeout rate has dipped from an impressive 36.1 percent last season to a mediocre 22.4 percent during the current campaign.