Six Pack of Stats: Royals 5, White Sox 1

The Chicago White Sox got their MVP back, but the Kansas City Royals made the most out of their hits to take game three of the series. The Sox look to get the split tomorrow afternoon, but before we get back to the future, here are the numbers behind tonight’s loss.

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The Starters

The roles reversed for tonight’s starters.

Carlos Rodón finally faltered, yet his performance was not the worst. He went 5 ²⁄₃ innings, giving up eight hits and three walks. He did give up a .270 xBA three-run shot off of Salvador Pérez’s bat to Kansas City’s favorite right field in baseball, and that decided tonight’s outcome.

Los’s 110-pitch, -.193 WPA outing went a little like this:

Baseball Savant

Mike Minor, unfortunately, was rolling with his best stuff of the season. As Carlos’s ERA increased, Minor’s decreased. Minor notched a quality start going seven innings, giving up two hits (one a solo shot) and two walks; he even fanned seven. He also seems to be the only left-handed pitcher in baseball who can defeat the White Sox.

Minor’s 100-pitch, .277 WPA night went like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

In the bottom of the eighth, Yoán Moncada’s 1.85 LI ground out, which ended in an ill-advised headfirst slide, failed to capitalize on a two-on, two-out situation where Scott Barlow struggled with control.

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Pressure Cooker

Salvy accumulated the most pLI at 1.05. He went 1-for-4, with a homer, three RBIs, two strikeouts, and four left on base.

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Top Play

Without a doubt, Salvador Pérez recorded tonight’s top play (.164 WPA) with his three-run homer early, which held up as the winning runs as well.

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Top Performer

With a .277 WPA, blowing everyone out of the water, Mike Minor is tonight’s top performer, putting his best outing of the season together.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: José Abreu, in the ninth, smoked a 111.5 mph single to the right side of the infield. This beat out Tim Anderson’s 109.8 mph double in the eighth that would have left the park — if only for a little bit more launch angle.

Weakest contact: In the second inning, Jarrod Dyson (who also had two hit-stealing catches against the Sox tonight) popped up with a 64.7 mph exit velocity, but wait, there is more. He beat this exit velocity in the eighth with a fielder’s choice, 27.7 mph bunt attempt.

Luckiest hit: Carlos Santana recorded a 77.0 mph, .180 xBA single in the fourth. Kansas City had four hits of less than a .270 xBA; I’m getting mid-2010s flashbacks.

Toughest out: In the same inning as the luckiest hit, Yermín Mercedes sent a .640 xBA line out to Jarrod Dyson for Dyson’s first stolen hit of the game; the second was Andrew Vaughn’s 100.8 mph, .430 xBA line out in the seventh.

Longest hit: MVPs do not hit low-xBA home runs. José Abreu pulled a 104.6 mph, .910 xBA to the seats 401 feet away from home plate. (Can we get a “That’s my MVP!” chat chain in the comments for Abreu, who miraculously even played tonight, let alone hit bombs, after a scary collision with Hunter Dozier yesterday!?)

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Magic Number: 1

In three tries, the White Sox have one win against Mike Minor; if there is a lefty pitcher who can slow down this lefty-crushing lineup, he is not the expected pitcher for this note.

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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

A modest, 129-comment gamethread nonetheless had drama for the top spot. Pointerbabe stays hot, taking a two-comment win over steely3000.

As for the recs, for a second straight game, no green, so the stinginess is real. In fact, only four different commenters got even a single rec! steely saw his revenge with this twofer the only comment rec’d more than once tonight: