Six Pack of Stats: Tigers 5, White Sox 2

The Detroit Tigers snapped a six-game winning streak for the White Sox with a 5-2 victory at Guaranteed Rate Field. Detroit finishes the 2021 season with a record of 77-85, while Chicago is the American League’s No. 3 seed with a record of 93-69.

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The Starters

Tyler Alexander made his 15th start of the 2021 season for the Tigers. Alexander pitched six innings, giving up one earned run on four hits and two walks while striking out four White Sox hitters. He had a 1.50 ERA, a 5.00 FIP, and a 4.60 xFIP on the day.

Alexander used a five-pitch arsenal, primarily using his sinker. His slider had the highest CSW rate of his five pitches, generating four whiffs and five called strikes for a 56% CSW rate. Alexander had an overall CSW rate of 28%, 1% higher than his season rate of 27%. He lost velocity on all five of his pitches, losing at least one mph of speed on every pitch except his 4-seam fastball. Alexander increased his spin rate on three of his five pitches. His changeup was his only pitch that lost vertical break, and he did not lose horizontal break on any of his pitches.

Baseball Savant

Dylan Cease made his 32nd start of the 2021 season for the White Sox. Cease pitched four innings, giving up one earned run on four hits and two walks while striking out five Tigers hitters. He had a 2.25 ERA, a 2.16 FIP, and a 5.25 xFIP on the day.

Cease used a four-pitch arsenal, primarily using his 4-seam fastball. His knuckle curve had the highest CSW rate of his four pitches, generating one whiff and one called strike for a 40% CSW rate. Cease had an overall CSW rate of 32%, 0.4% higher than his season rate of 31.6%. He gained velocity and spin on his slider and his changeup while losing velocity and spin his 4-seam fastball and his knuckle curve. Cease lost vertical break on all four pitches, while his 4-seam fastball was his only pitch that gained horizontal break.

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh in a 2-2 tie game, White Sox third basemen Yoán Moncada grounded into a fielder’s choice double play to end the inning, after shortstop Tim Anderson was tagged out during a rundown between third and home. The plate appearance had a 3.91 LI, the highest of any during the game.

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Pressure Cooker

Tigers reliever Drew Hutchison pitched the top of the seventh inning, giving up one earned run on three hits and a walk. Hutchison’s one inning of work gave him a pLI of 2.63. He was the only player in today’s game with a pLI of at least two.

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Top Play

Leading off the top of the ninth inning in a tie game, Tigers right fielder Daz Cameron hit a fly ball home run to right field to give Detroit a 3-2 lead. The solo homer added .334 WPA for the Tigers, the most WPA of any plate appearance in today’s game.

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Top Performer

Cameron’s ninth-inning home run helped propel his total WPA to .365, the highest of any player during the game.

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Smackdown

Luckiest hit: With the bases empty and one out in a 1-1 game in the top of the second inning, Tigers second baseman Willi Castro hit a ground ball single to center field. The batted ball had an xBA of .190, the lowest of any base hit in today’s game.

Toughest out: In a 1-1 tie game during the top of the ninth with two outs and a runner on third, Tigers designated hitter Niko Goodrum flied out to center field. The out had an xBA of .620, the highest of any batted ball out in the game.

Hardest hit: With one out and nobody on base in the bottom of the first, White Sox designated hitter Luis Robert barreled a solo home run to left field to tie the game 1-1. The ball was hit 117.7 mph, the highest exit velocity on any batted ball during today’s game.

Weakest contact: In a 1-1 contest with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the second, White Sox center fielder Adam Engel grounded out to second base to end the inning. The ground ball had an exit velocity of 44.5 mph, making it the softest-hit ball of the game.

Longest hit: Robert’s first-inning home run traveled 430 feet, the furthest hit ball in today’s game.

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Magic Number: 4

The White Sox are four days away from playing postseason baseball. Chicago travels to Houston for Games 1 and 2 against the Astros before the series moves to Guaranteed Rate Field on Sunday, October 10.

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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

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South Side Sox Roll Call

In the final, 272-comment gamethread of the regular season, AnoHito announced his presence with authority, with 80 comments doubling up Nello in second.

It was Schoolly_D coming through with the only green of the game, three recs, for this:

see ya at the rally tomorrow, Schoolly, hopefully several SSSers will be there!