Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 4, Cleveland 3

It was a strange way for a baseball game to end, especially at the major league level, but White Sox fans will happily accept the outcome. An errant throw by Cleveland second baseman Yu Chang allowed the White Sox to walk the win off in odd fashion.

The Starters

Like most outings, Dallas Keuchel struggled to miss many bats. But overall, Keuchel had a solid performance to fill in for late scratch Carlos Rodón, with a 47 game score.

Here’s a breakdown of Keuchel’s 68 pitches:
Sinker: 41% | 8 called strikes + 0 whiffs (0%) | 87.1 mph avg.
Changeup: 40% | 3 called strike + 2 whiffs (17%)| 79.3 mph avg.
Cutter: 12% | 2 called strikes + 0 whiffs (0%) | 84.9 mph avg.
Slider: 6% | 1 called strikes + 0 whiffs (0%) | 76.7 mph avg.
4-seam fastball: 1% | 0 called strikes + 0 whiffs (0%) | 85.8 mph avg.

Cleveland had four hard-hit balls against Keuchel, and they went 1-for-4 with a home run (Eddie Rosario’s second homer of the season) in those at-bats.

On the other side, Triston McKenzie surrendered a three-run homer in the second inning, but he was solid overall besides that, with an identical 47 game score to Keuchel’s.

Here is a look at McKenzie’s 76-pitch performance:

4-seam fastball: 68% | 7 called strikes + 7 whiffs (29%) | 91.9 mph avg.
Slider: 12% | 4 called strikes + 0 whiffs (0%) | 87.6 mph avg.
Curveball: 11% | 2 called strikes + 0 whiffs (0%) | 79.5 mph avg.
Changeup: 9% | 0 called strikes + 2 whiff (40%) | 86.4 mph avg.

The White Sox recorded only two hard-hit balls against McKenzie, and went 1-for-2 on those (home run by Adam Eaton, ground out by Yasmani Grandal).

Fastest pitch: Cleveland reliever Emmanuel Clase delivered the fastest pitch of the night (99.7 mph), which Yasmani Grandal took for a ball.

Most swing-and-misses: McKenzie won the battle between the starting pitchers, getting nine whiffs. However, reliever Codi Heuer tied McKenzie for the overall whiff lead, despite throwing only 32 pitches in 2 ¹⁄₃ innings to do this.

Pressure Play

The most pressure-packed play came in the bottom of the ninth inning. With runners on first and second with one out, Nick Williams hit a grounder to the right side. Yu Chang tried to get the out at second, but his throw hit the side of Yasmani Grandal’s helmet, which allowed Nick Madrigal to score. The leverage index (LI) was 4.28.

Pressure Cooker

Evan Marshall’s average player index (2.89 pLI) was tops among all players in this game. Marshall only faced four batters, but he retired them all, and all were in medium to high-leverage situations. As a result, Marshall made a significant impact from the bullpen.

Top Play

The top play in terms of WPA is the final play of the game, when Yu Chang’s misplay allowed the winning run to score. This improved the White Sox’s odds of winning the game from 71.2% to 100.0% (+.288).

Adam Eaton’s home run is the No. 2 pick for top play, improving the White Sox’s chances of winning by 26.9 percentage points (+.269 WPA).

Top Performer

By WPA, reliever Codi Heuer was the White Sox’s top gun (+.329). This was well-deserved, as Heuer threw 2 ¹⁄₃ shutout innings in a high-leverage situation. In addition, Heuer stranded both runners he inherited with two outs in the seventh. The game was tied throughout Heuer’s time on the mound.

In terms of WPA, Nick Williams was in the same ballpark (+.325). However, there is a big asterisk here, as this was almost entirely due to Yu Chang’s error.

Smackdown

Luckiest hit: The ninth inning single by Yermín Mercedes had a .140 xBA, as it had a mild exit velocity (84.8 mph) and was hit into the ground.
Toughest out: In the second inning, Cleveland’s Roberto Pérez hit a line drive with a .760 xBA, but it settled harmlessly into second baseman Leury Garcia’s glove.
Hardest hit: In the seventh, Cleveland’s Yu Chang hit a 110.6 mph line drive. Fortunately, however, Nick Williams was playing deep, and he made a good enough play on it to hold Chang to a single.
Weakest contact: The weakest contact also belongs to Yu Chang, whose 43.9 mph ground out in the third takes the cake.
Longest hit: Eddie Rosario’s home run went 401 feet. Cesar Hernández just missed a home run when Luis Robert robbed him of a double in the first inning (385 feet). The sacrifice fly by Franmil Reyes (382 feet) also deserves honorable mention. Adam Eaton’s three-run homer did not go as far as these (375 feet), but it drove in more runs than any of them.

Glossary

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