Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 9, Royals 1

Holy hits, Batman! Everyone got on base tonight via hit or the scheduled Yasmani Grandal walk.

The White Sox sit comfortably in first place as they face the *checks notes* tough Royals team. After eight runs in the first inning alone, I don’t think anyone really fears Kansas City anymore.

---

The Starters

Lance Lynn took the mound for the White Sox facing rookie Daniel Lynch. Lynn stayed in to dominate the Royals lineup through five innings. Lynch however might have a signed jersey hanging up in the dugout after the great first inning massacre.

Here is how Lynn’s 90 pitch outing looked:

Daniel Lynch threw 34 pitches before Tyler Zuber took the mound for a little damage control. Tim Anderson is no longer the sole owner of the Royals, this time was a team effort to completely break down the young pitcher.

Here is the breakdown of the short-lived, 34-pitch outing for Lynch:

---

Pressure Play

In a blowout, the only pressure comes early. Thus Yoán Moncada’s lined double to left field in the first inning tipped the scale at 1.84 LI. Moncada sent Tim Anderson and Nick Madrigal home to give the White Sox and early lead.

---

Pressure Cooker

Left-handed rookie Daniel Lynch clearly had a tough time against a team known for dominating lefties. The pressure was on throughout the first, as he went through the batting order and then some. Lynch’s pLI for his short time in the game reached 0.94. The highest pressure faced for the White Sox was Yoán Moncada’s 0.44 pLI.

---

Top Play

Moncada strikes again, with his first inning double. The hit that put the White Sox up 2-0 was also the highest WPA of the game, coming in at .142. I think this is the point where you guess what name will be in the top performer category.

---

Top Performer

Did you guess Yoán Moncada? Congrats! Coming in at a WPA of .160, Moncada was the top performer of tonight’s game. I suppose bringing in Anderson and Madrigal TWICE will guarantee the top spot.

---

Smackdown

Hardest hit: Andrew Vaughn’s force out in the ninth inning was the hardest-hit ball, with an exit velocity of 109 mph.

Weakest contact: Nick Madrigal’s pop out in the ninth inning was the weakest of the game, coming off the bat at only 59.7 mph.

Luckiest hit: Leury García’s 91.3 mph triple in the first inning off rookie pitcher Lynch was the luckiest hit of the night. The triple allowed Andrew Vaughn to score, extending the lead even more. García’s xBA was only .190. Interesting, though, this doesn’t look like as easy an out as the xBA indicates:

Toughest out: Andrew Vaughn had two tough outs in the game, most notably the 102 mph fly out off of Kris Bubic in the fifth inning that carried an .820 xBA.

Longest hit: José Abreu’s double in the ninth inning somehow had more distance than Danny Mendick’s first inning home run (381 feet) and Andrew Vaughn’s first inning double (391 feet). Abreu’s double flew a whopping 409 feet before bouncing off the wall.

---

Magic Number: 4

Yasmani Grandal walked four times this evening, and Moneyball gifs ran rampant on Twitter. Why do I love Yaz? Because he gets on base.

---

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

---

South Side Sox Gamethread(s) Stats

Heh, didn’t think Brett could pull this off, could you? Well, not like he’s pandering to avoid being the Cold Cat above, but here are the standings for tonight, over TWO “threads”:

Of 196 comments, WHOA, pointerbabe with the rout. Really thought this was a PB-Schoolly battle, but this was Pointerbabe’s night.

As for going green, it was Lurker Laura with what is believed to be her first rec win, edging out Schoolly_D by one, 7-6:

This is the first such gamethread sweep! White Sox women rule.