Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 5, Blue Jays 2

The injuries continue to pile on for the White Sox, as news broke today that Nick Madrigal has been placed on the 60-day IL. Brian Goodwin gets the call-up from Charlotte, and Danny Mendick is granted the opportunity to fill in for Madrigal for well ... how long? That’s up to Rick Hahn and the often closed Reinsdorf checkbook.

If the White Sox are good at anything though, it’s adapting and overcoming. After a soul-crushing loss last night, the White Sox closed this series with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

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The Starters

Dallas Keuchel faced right-handed pitcher and K-Pop singing sensation Hyun-Jin Ryu.

I’ve previously discussed Keuchel’s struggles with command, but he’s turned it around since his last outing. Tonight was a night for throwing strikes, lasting six innings and dominating the Blue Jays with his cutter.

Keuchel’s 104-pitch outing looked like this:

Ryu entered the game with a 3.23 ERA, but even decent pitchers struggle against an angry White Sox team. Ryu didn’t locate the strike zone until the bottom of the third inning, and continued to have difficulties with his command before being pulled.

Ryu’s 95-pitch outing looked like this:

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Pressure Play

The Blue Jays certainly had a chance to turn things around in the seventh inning, facing Evan Marshall. Marcus Semien grounded into a double play to shortstop and Santiago Espinal was out at second. The LI for that play was a massive 2.85.

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Pressure Cooker

Evan Marshall felt the heat of the close game in the seventh inning, up against Semien and Espinal. While the White Sox offense kept him out of hot water, Marshall’s pLI was 1.79 for the inning he pitched.

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Top Play

Yasmani Grandal, known for catching and getting on base, sealed the win early in the game, with a homer to make it 3-0 in the first. His home run also brought José Abreu in, and was the highest WPA of the night at .155.

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Top Performer

Grandal gets top marks for his early, two-run homer off of Ryu. He finished his evening with a WPA of .156. A close second was Abreu, at .114, and Keuchel finished his great outing with a WPA of .112.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had the hardest hit this evening with his single off Keuchel in the sixth inning. The ball exited the bat at 115.6 mph.

Weakest contact: In a game of hard-hit balls, Espinal lightly tapped a 65.6 mph single in the fifth inning.

Luckiest hit: Espinal’s single against Marshall in the seventh inning would be the luckiest in the game, with an xBA of only .200.

Toughest out: Riley Adams seemed to have the upper hand in the fifth inning with an xBA of .700, but thankfully had a line out instead.

Longest hit: We all have witnessed the return of Adam Engel roaming the outfield, but he’s back to hitting the ball into the concourse, too. His eighth inning home run traveled 414 feet.

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Magic Number: 2

Yermín Mercedes looks to carry on the legacy of Nicky Two Strikes with his multi-hit performance.

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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

This was a little tough to come up with Cold Cats in a pretty good game.

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South Side Sox Roll Call

Pointerbabe goes back-to-back on this 207-comment night, and it wasn’t even close.

Wow, 207 comments, and no green! Stingy. Here are the top recs: