Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 3, Tigers 1 (opener)

Not going to lie, I was not a fan with the bottom-half of this afternoon’s Chicago White Sox lineup, but they got the job done against the Detroit Tigers for win No. 1 in this straight doubleheader.

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The Starters

Carlos Rodón stays incredible through one month of the season. He pitched six complete innings, giving up almost nothing; he surrendered one run off of two hits and one walk. However, Los struck out 12 (12!) batters throughout his outing; that’s two strikeouts an inning, people!

Here’s how his 96 pitches broke down:

Baseball Savant

Casey Mize did not have too shabby an afternoon, either. He was rolling through four innings, but the Sox offense hurt him in the fifth. Mize pitched six complete innings, like Los. Mize had half as many strikeouts, and gave up three runs off of four hits and three walks.

His 87 pitches break down like this:

Baseball Savant

Fastest pitch: A 98.5 mph 4-seam fastball that was called a ball during Jeimer Candalario’s at-bat in the sixth was the fastest pitch of today’s game, courtesy of Carlos.

Most swing-and-misses: Los also induced 23 swings-and-misses compared to Casey’s 13.

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Pressure Play

Billy Hamilton, that dude. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Hamilton grounded out to Miggy Cabrera. What should have been a force out at home turned into an out at first, as Miggy mishandled the 3.95 LI grounder, which led to the game-tying run.

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Pressure Cooker

Understandably, Billy Hamilton faced the most pressure in today’s game. With the team down 1-0 in the fifth inning of a seven-inning game, Hamilton was presented with the bases loaded with zero outs. He had to make a play, and did, under 2.77 pLI.

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Top Play

Though it was not the winning run (thank goodness), Jonathan Schoop’s RBI double in the top of the fourth was worth .174 WPA.

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Top Performer

It goes without saying that Carlos Rodón was this afternoon’s top performer, with a .188 WPA. He finishes April with a 4-0 record and a 0.72 ERA.

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Smackdown

Luckiest hit: With plenty of strikeouts, there was not a lot of contact during today’s game, but Yoán Moncada managed to record a double in the sixth inning off of Casey Mize that had just a .130 xBA.

Toughest out: Before his RBI double, Jonathan Schoop recorded a heartbreaker of a line out (.780 xBA) in the second inning.

Hardest hit: Speaking of that double, Schoop had the hardest hit at 108.7 mph, but Jake Lamb is runner-up in back-to-back games, with his 107.2 mph single off of Mize in the following inning (fifth).

Weakest contact: Billy Hamilton’s 36.7 mph sacrifice bunt in the third would make highway drivers restless.

Longest hit: To end the first inning, Adam Eaton sent a baseball 394 feet for an out.

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Magic Number: 36

Carlos has 36 strikeouts through four starts this season, and it is pretty historic.

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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

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South Side Sox Comment Board

steely3000 is proving a tough customer, game-in and game-out. A heavy, 262-comment opener turned into an easy win:

Whoo wee, lookee here, a barnburner at the top for top rec, among two site faves, tying at six apiece: