Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 5, Guardians 4 (nightcap)
It could be worse — it could’ve been a sweep.
The White Sox pushed past the Guardians with some late-inning heroics, barely avoiding a sweep. Lance Lynn dazzled, and Eloy Jiménez made a big splash for the first time since his return. Here are the stats behind the nightcap game.
The Starters
Lance Lynn pitched a gem, going six scoreless innings. After his last two starts going poorly, Lynn appeared to be back, and was exactly what the Sox needed for the nightcap. Lynn only allowed three hits, one walk, and struck out six. His fastball was lethal, with 45% called strikes + whiffs.
Lynn’s 87-pitch outing looked like this:
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Baseball Savant
Konnor Pilkington’s outing was not as successful. The lefty only struck out three and allowed two runs, four hits, and three walks in five innings. He was able to escape quite a few jams, however, after he walked a run in during a bases-loaded situation. His primary and most successful pitch was the fastball.
Pilkington’s 89-pitch outing looked like this:
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Baseball Savant
Pressure Play
It’s always a bases-loaded play, isn’t it? This time, it worked out for the Sox, as AJ Pollock singled to third base, scoring two and advancing Yasmani Grandal. The LI was the highest I’ve seen since covering this team, at 7.95.
Pressure Cooker
Adam Engel faced the most pressure, and it came in his only at-bat. There were two on in the eighth, and ended with a fly out, for a 5.29 pLI.
Top Play
Did you guess Pollock’s single I mentioned earlier? You’d be correct! Another chart-topping play, with a WPA of .517.
Top Performer
The top mark belongs to AJ Pollock for the nightcap game. His single saved the game, and the series. Pollock’s slump-busting single had a WPA of .495.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: Amed Rosario’s ground out off Lynn in the sixth inning left the bat at 106 mph. Though pulling Lynn after six innings proved unpopular with fans, this is one indication the righthander may have been tiring.
Weakest contact: Andrés Giménez singled off of José Ruiz in the seventh with the ball being tapped at 71.3 mph.
Luckiest hit: AGiménez’s single didn’t look great on paper, and had an xBA of just .190.
Toughest out: Reese McGuire’s line out in the seventh was rather unlucky, with an xBA of .720.
Longest hit: Eloy Jiménez’s solo home run traveled 407 feet into left field.
Magic Number: 13
Starting pitchers Johnny Cueto and Lance Lynn really did the work today, with a combined 13 innings pitched. And thank goodness, because the bullpen was a tire fire in both games.
Glossary
Hard-hit is any ball off the bat at 95 mph or more
LI measures pressure per play
pLI measures total pressure faced in-game
Whiff a swing-and-miss
WPA win probability added measures contributions to the win
xBA expected batting average