GLENDALE, Ariz. -- White Sox right-hander Michael Kopech didn’t give up a run in the first inning of a 6-3 loss to the Giants on Thursday afternoon at Camelback Ranch.

But after walking the first two hitters without throwing a strike and moving both runners into scoring position on wild pitches with none out, Kopech was not overly satisfied with the process.

“Definitely not happy with how anything went. Definitely not happy with how it started,” Kopech said. “There are some positives. Being able to work out of eight pitches and two walks to start the game. That's terrible, unacceptable. But I was able to limit the damage in that inning. 

“The next inning, made it interesting again, loaded the bases and was able to work out of that. There was a little bit of in-season stuff that I was able to work on today. Overall, it wasn't a good day. I've got some stuff to work on, but there were some positives.”

Kopech had an excuse for Thursday’s struggles in that he was dealing with a sinus issue, which was very clear when talking to the media postgame. He still wanted to try to get his work in with just one more Cactus League start remaining on Tuesday against the Cubs, and didn’t think his mound struggles had anything to do with the health issue.

“My timing was just not there. I was trying to find it almost the whole outing,” Kopech said. “Out of the windup, I felt really good. 

“I've been working on a slide step a lot through the stretch and I just couldn't find it, and unfortunately there was a lot of time out of the stretch today. I fell behind a lot. Couldn't get my body in sync and they took advantage of that.”

Kopech is scheduled to start the home opener against the Giants on April 3, so he’ll have time to work. He threw around 70 pitches over three-plus innings, which he smiled about and deemed as “too many,” allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks with three strikeouts.

“I had some good sliders today and then got a little fatigued with it, I guess. Or maybe just trying a little too hard. It got a little bit sweepy and was uncompetitive,” Kopech said. “After that, we went to the changeup a lot.

“Got a few swings and misses on changeups, some called strikes on changeups and some near misses. I felt really good with my secondary stuff today. I'm a guy who has to rely on locating my fastball to have those pitches work and I didn't do a very good job of that today."

After working to make the changeup part of his repertoire coming into Spring Training, Kopech used it more against the Giants than he ever has in previous starts.

“That's part of what spring is for,” Kopech said. “I know I want to go out there and have a good outing and compete and win, but it's to work on stuff that I want to get better at in-season. So it was a good opportunity to do that today. I've figured out how to be quicker to the plate. Today, I was a little too quick.

“I've figured out how to throw my changeup in the zone. I'll continue working on that. There's still some work to be done on my curveball. I like where my slider is at. Obviously velocity has been a little all over the place. That's something that will come. I'm not too worried about it. Ultimately when we get to April, I feel pretty comfortable about where I'm at."