Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 10, Mariners 4

The White Sox continued their dominance against lefthanders, stretching a near-MLB record string with another win on Tuesday. Lucas Giolito didn’t have his best stuff, but it was good enough for the White Sox to tack on runs as the game went on in a 10-4 win over the Seattle Mariners.

Chicago never trailed, which led to most of the high-leverage moments coming on Seattle’s at-bats. But the White Sox also hit three home runs during an offensive outburst.

The Starters

A few poor defensive plays slowed down Lucas Giolito in the third inning, but the White Sox’s ace worked around lower fastball velocity to last 5 ¹⁄₃ innings for a second straight start. He struck out 10 batters, allowing three earned runs on four hits. A 39-pitch third inning prevented him from pitching deeper into the game, as his pitch count piled up to 96. He finished with a game score of 63.

Here’s the 96-pitch breakdown for Giolito:
4-seam fastball: 54%/9 called strikes + 7 whiffs (32%)/92.7 mph
Changeup: 32%/5 called strikes + 8 whiffs (44%)/81.7 mph
Slider: 14%/0 called strikes + 3 whiffs (43%)/85.4 mph

He held the Mariners to three hard-hit balls (exit velocity 95 mph+), an improvement from the six he gave up on Opening Day.

Seattle’s James Paxton left the game with left elbow discomfort in the second inning. He threw only 24 pitches after a strong first inning, which included two strikeouts. Paxton allowed two earned runs and walked a batter, though he only pitched part of Andrew Vaughn’s walk-inducing at-bat. In his short outing, he had a game score of 45.

Here’s the 24-pitch breakdown for Paxton:
4-seam fastball: 66.7%/2 called strikes + 1 whiff (14%)/94.3 mph
Cutter: 29.1%/0 called strikes + 3 whiffs (60%)/86.2 mph
Curveball: 4.2%/1 called strike + 0 whiffs/78.1 mph

Pressure Play

Garrett Crochet entered the game in the sixth inning with a 5-3 lead. He walked Taylor Trammell and gave up a single to Tom Murphy, bringing go-ahead run Luis Torrens to the plate for the highest pressure moment of the game (3.17 LI). Torrens struck out on a slider, followed by Crochet notching another strikeout against Dylan Moore to end the threat.

Pressure Cooker

Seattle’s Mitch Haniger had a 1.57 pLI, which was the highest of the game. He had a pair of high-leverage moments in the third inning. Haniger’s RBI single to make it a 3-1 game had a 2.35 LI, but scoring on a wild pitch (3.11 LI) was the second-highest leverage moment of the entire game.

Andrew Vaughn had the highest pLI (1.01) for Chicago. He faced it head on by recording his first career hit and walking twice in the win.

Top Play

The White Sox hit three home runs, but Luis Robert’s two-run shot in the fifth inning to give the South Siders a 5-3 lead boosted their odds of winning by 23.2% (.232 WPA). It was Robert’s first home run of the season.

If not for a poor defensive third inning, Zack Collins’ three-run home run in the second inning would’ve earned top play. His home run had a .197 WPA.

Top Performer

Luis Robert also earned the highest individual WPA (0.27) by a wide margin. The center fielder finished 2-for-5 at the plate to go with two runs, two RBIs and a walk. He struck out twice, though. Collins (0.16) and Vaughn (0.12) were a distant second and third, respectively.

Smackdown

Tom Murphy’s single off of Garrett Crochet ended up being the hardest-hit ball, coming off of his bat at 108.3 mph.

Despite three home runs, it was Vaughn’s double that claimed the top spot for the White Sox. He struck it well, for a 105.7 mph exit velocity. José Abreu’s grand slam (104.9 mph) narrowly edged Robert’s home run (104 mph) as the hardest-hit deep ball of the night.