Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 4, Royals 3

M-V-PITO

M-V-PITO

M-V-PITO

The Chicago White Sox walk it off against the Kansas City Royals on an incredible effort from the heart and soul of this team: José Abreu! Let’s see what all went down to make this miraculous moment come to fruition!

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The Starters

Dylan Cease continues to impress this season, and I am here for it. He pitched 5 ²⁄₃ innings, giving up three hits, three walks, one run, but punched out three. His ERA dips to below 2.50 at 2.41.

His modest 88-pitch outing went like this:

Baseball Savant

Brady Singer rivaled Cease, throwing 6 ¹⁄₃ innings. He gave up seven hits, but he also struck out seven. The only runs he gave up were off of Adam Eaton’s two-run home run in the fifth inning.

SInger’s 102 pitches break down like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Nick Madrigal’s 7.91 LI ground out ended a prime scoring opportunity for the Sox, who were trailing, 3-2, at the time. Madrigal is having a tough May compared to his awesome April, but the rookie will turn it around soon.

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Pressure Cooker

Wade Davis, giving up the tying run and winning run in the bottom of the ninth, fell to the top game pressure: 4.31 pLI.

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Top Play

Naturally, was the winning play. On a 1-1 count, a wild pitch fluttered away during Yasmani Grandal’s at-bat, with runners on the corners with two outs. Full speed ahead, Abreu recorded the winning run (.365 WPA).

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Top Performer

Blowing away the next closest WPA (Adam Eaton, .258), MVPito accumulated a .515 WPA! I’ll have to stat check myself, but initially, that seems to be the highest individual WPA I have seen during one of my Six Pack coverages. Simply outstanding! Retire his number now and build his statue. :) (Harold Baines, any help?)

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Spanky Eaton’s two-run shot to take the lead in the fifth left the bat at 106.8 mph.

Weakest contact: Just about the subdivision speed limit, Nick Madrigal’s half-swing ground out left the bat at an astounding 16.3 mph in the eighth inning.

Luckiest hit: There were not many lucky hits this game, but Kansas City still found a way to notch one for seemingly every game this series. Whit Merrifield’s 50.0 mph single in the seventh inning had an xBA of .220.

Toughest out: Jorge Soler’s 105.5 mph fly out in the sixth was caught by Leury García, but it had an 84% chance of being a hit.

Longest hit: That toughest out was also the longest hit, soaring 391 feet to right-center field.

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Magic Number: <3

Not less than three. A heart. Not every number can quantify what we see. Although José Abreu has the stats to support this argument, he also has the heart as well.

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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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I love beating the Royals.

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South Side Sox Roll Call

An even 100 comments concluded a pretty modest readership series against K.C. The low output made for a nice race, won by steely3000:

There weren’t a ton of recs, but at least someone went green: baines03, spitting venom on Adam Eaton: