Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 11, Kansas City 5

The Chicago White Sox have won three straight ballgames, and they are .500 for the first time this season with a 4-4 record. They did it in fabulous fashion: 11 runs on 21 hits and four walks. Plus they even made a little bit of history:

Tomorrow, they’ll look for the sweep against the Kansas City Royals, as well as bumping their record above .500. Let’s dive into what made the South Siders so successful tonight:

FanGraphs

The Starts
Gio González struggled with his control, but his years of experience guided him into a scoreless outing. He was unable to notch the quality start, as he only went 3 2⁄₃ innings. He ended up giving up five hits and three walks, but the lefty struck out six.

Ronald Bolaños was shaken up rather early, as was my gamethread prediction. He only lasted 1 ²⁄₃ innings, where he gave up five runs off of five hits (two homers) and two walks. He was able to strike out one, but it was simply not his day.

Pressure Play
The play with the most pressure happened fairly early in this ballgame. With two outs in the top of the first, a 2.68 LI wild pitch scored Yoán Moncada. Yasmani Grandal moved up to second base, and Edwin Encarnación took his walk. Giving the White Sox a 1-0 lead, they never looked back and kept the hits and runs coming throughout the night!

Pressure Cooker
An unexpected player cooked under pressure during tonight’s game. Nicky Lopez had a total 2.10 pLI. He was 0-for-2 at the plate with a strikeout, and he left the most players on base, with six for the Bad Guys.

Top Play
Right after the game’s pressure play came the game’s top play. With two outs in the first and two on base, Eloy Jiménez took a 0-1 pitch to right-center field. This ball bounced off of Bubba Starling’s glove, which helped the ball trampoline over the fence for a .218 WPA, three-run home run! With a 4-0 lead, the South Siders just took off from there; Hi Mom! and thanks, Eloy!

That makes back-to-back nights with three-run blasts for the Good Guys.

Game MVP
Jiménez smoked his competition for the game MVP honors. His .235 WPA was compiled by a 4-for-6 performance. He tallied two singles, a double, and homer. He was only missing a triple for the cycle, but I am perfectly fine with what Eloy did tonight. He drove in four, and he scored a run himself.

Three other players deserve to share the spotlight with Eloy. Luis Robert had a very similar day; he went 4-for-6, but he had two doubles rather than two singles. Thus, Luis also fell a triple short of the cycle. Yep, La Pantera has solidified the leadoff position.

Eloy and Luis also made a bit of history for themselves tonight. For only the third time in the history of the White Sox, two 23-and-under teammates recorded four hits in the same ballgame. I look forward to a few more!

Leury García had a sneaky-great night. He reached base all six times, and he notched four hits himself.

Oh yeah, Yoán Moncada recorded a 3-for-5 performance and scored two runs.

Magic Number: 63
Another South Sider, No. 63, found his way onto the biggest stage of his baseball career.

Matt Foster made his MLB debut in the fifth inning. He pitched a scoreless inning, and he turned the third hitter he faced into his first strikeout. Congrats, Matt!

He even recorded his first big league win!

Tomorrow, the South Siders will go for the sweep. Let’s do it!