Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 5, Royals 3

So, how’s about that catch!

Luis Robert truly does something every game to make you go WOAH.

The White Sox got offense right off the bat (TA double, José HR) and then got a clown-car defense run courtesy of Maikel Franco, with Yasmani Grandal putting the Royals in the death grip with a massive, two-run blast that provided the eventual winning runs.

The Starts

Lucas Giolito threw a 60 game score tonight, fab for most starters, about average for him this year. In fact, he fell to 62.2 on the year — still comfortably the ace of the staff — after getting through just six innings.

Kris Bubic didn’t fare as well, with a 49, but that’s right in line with his season against the White Sox — in three starts against them, he’s averaged a 50 game score. Cheer up, Kris, that’s just as well as José Berríos has averaged in two starts.

Pressure Play

With a runner on and one out, Codi Heuer struck out Ryan McBroom in the most pressure-filled moment (2.47 LI) of the ballgame. This was perhaps Heuer’s best effort of the season, settling in perhaps as the top setup man to Alex Colomé.

Pressure Cooker

Four of the top six highest leverages in this game were faced by White Sox relievers! Topping the bill was Heuer, who pitched a scoreless eighth (one walk) but faced enormous leverage (1.79 pLI) with just a two-run lead.

Top Play

Grandal’s massive, two-run blast that ended the scoring early for the White Sox was the biggest win addition of the game, at .153 WPA. Abreu’s home run was the second-biggest WPA total of the game.

Game MVP

All the offense — literally, all the offense — came from José Abreu, Tim Anderson and Yasmani Grandal tonight so chances are that one of those three earned the game MVP. Indeed, with was TA, with a 2-for-3, RBI, BB night, adding up to .160 WPA. Bubba Starling came in second, and Colomé third.

Magic Number: 101

The White Sox are now 10 games above .500, at 25-15. Just for giggles, that’s a 101-61 pace over a full season.