Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 3, Rays 0

For a team that seems to have the worst luck with injuries, the Chicago White Sox continue to dominate the league, even when up against another dominant, first-place team, the Tampa Bay Rays. The next-man-up philosophy was apparent this evening, as Danny Mendick and Adam Engel provided the run support needed. It also didn’t hurt to have an outstanding outing from Dallas Keuchel.

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The Starters

It was southpaw night in Chicago, and no, I’m not talking about the beloved fuzzy green guy that just celebrated a birthday.

Ron Vesely/Getty Images

Veteran left-handed pitcher Dallas Keuchel faced another left-handed pitcher, the young Shane McClanahan. Despite not always having the best outings, Keuchel is always met with run support and defense from the White Sox. As of lately however, Keuchel has only improved and continues to show his best work on the mound. McClanahan only has nine starts this season and has struggled quite a bit in the last two, lasting only three innings in his last game.

Keuchel tossed seven scoreless innings against a very good Rays team, only allowing four hits. His sinker primarily shut the Rays down with 12 called strikes. Keuchel also dropped his ERA to 3.78, hopefully silencing those that say he has been underperforming this season.

Keuchel’s 102-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

McClanahan’s slider was his best pitch of the night, with eight called strikes. His command started off smooth, but Adam Engel shook things up in the fifth and the rookied didn’t return for the sixth inning.

McClanahan’s 89-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

Brian Goodwin faced the most pressure of the game in the fourth inning, as he struck out looking with both Leury García and Andrew Vaughn on base. His LI was 2.31. Danny Mendick came in to save the day right after that, with a single that brought Vaughn and García in.

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Pressure Cooker

With the game on the line for the Rays, Brandon Lowe was the second victim for Liam Hendriks. He struck out swinging, putting Joey Wendle in charge of a rally. Lowe’s pLI was 2.17.

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Top Play

Mendick’s single to left field in the fourth inning secured the win, as Vaughn and García safely got home. This pushed the White Sox on top for a 2-0 lead. Mendick’s WPA for the single was .228.

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Top Performer

The Top Performer by a long shot was Keuchel tonight. His seven scoreless innings, five strikeouts and total domination on the mound set his WPA to .366. For reference, the next closest was Mendick with a WPA of .175.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Yandy Diaz was trying to audition for a famous section at Guaranteed Rate Field, with a ball exiting the bat at 108 mph in the sixth inning. Fortunately for the White Sox, that hard contact was grounded into a double play.

Weakest contact: As a surprise to me after hitting a home run last night, Austin Meadows had the weakest contact tonight with a pop out exiting the bat at 43.1 mph in the sixth inning.

Luckiest hit: No one expected García to come through with a single in the fourth inning with an xBA of .080, but Leury had other plans — or perhaps that was on the Rays’ defensive woes. Either way, he got on base and put the gears in motion to get the White Sox some runs.

Toughest out: Joey Wendle had a tough game to begin with, and also takes the crown for toughest out. His line out off of Keuchel in the second inning had an xBA of .570.

Longest hit: Adam Engel’s fifth inning home run was the longest hit ball of the game, a bomb traveling to quite possibly the moon. That homer ball went 402 feet and put the White Sox up, 3-0.

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Magic Number: .684

After tonight, the White Sox are 26-12 (.684) when playing at home.

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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

Don’t call it an upset, but in what may be a first this season (?), Right Size Wrong Shape took the crown from this 182-comment gamethread. In barely outdistancing Schoolly_D and Pointerbabe, this was the tightest tilt of the season.

RSWS got things started off with a strong first comment, for five recs. On most nights that would hold up, but 83 had something to say about that, later on in the game: