Six Pack of Stats: Twins 7, White Sox 2

The Chicago White Sox could not put together consecutive, epic comebacks to win tonight’s game against the Minnesota Twins, so the series ends in a split.

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The Starters

Dylan Cease was not really bad tonight. Unfortunately, his fastball was not working, and some damage was done before Cease shifted to the slider, which worked some magic. Through five innings, Cease gave up three runs, seven hits (one a solo home run), and two walks. He only struck out five, which is a bit low for Cease, especially considering his previous, 10-strikeout outing. However, that is what happens when one’s best stuff is not there.

Ultimately, Cease battled and was an inning short of a quality start. His 92 pitches can be summarized like so:

Baseball Savant

Michael Pineda also went five innings, but was more efficient than Cease. He only gave up four hits, one run, and one walk. He struck out three, so contact was aplenty tonight.

His 73 pitches break down like so:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

Dylan Cease, in a tied game 1-1, gave up a ducks-on-the-pond single (2.66 LI) to Josh Donaldson during the top of the fifth inning to give the Twins a 3-1 lead.

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Pressure Cooker

Adam Engel cooked under a pressure of 1.21 pLI; his 1-for-4 night with a strikeout felt stale with runners on base, stranding three.

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Top Play

Unfortunately, Donaldson gets the last laugh for this series with his game-winning, two-RBI single in the fifth for a .219 WPA. But the White Sox have a 99%+ chance to make the playoffs, so we stay winning.

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Top Performer

Jorge Polanco’s 3-for-4 night with three RBIs and and three runs carried his squad for the dub, accumulating a .195 WPA.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Okay, Miguel Sanó may have hit a 112.6 mph single in the second; however, there were TWO hits to follow, with the same 108.9 mph exit velocity: José Abreu’s double-play ground ball in the third, and Tim Anderson’s double in the fifth. Pretty sure the same exact exit velocity in one game is rare, but by teammates? What a special treat.

Weakest contact: Andrelton Simmons’ 66.9 mph single in the sixth was the hit that preceded the game-changing three-run homer. Billy Hamilton’s 65.2 mph single in the seventh, however, takes the cake in this category.

Luckiest hit: Adam Engel’s third inning single is only a hit 9% of the time.

Toughest out: Nick Gordon’s fourth-inning laser was caught for a line out (.680 xBA).

Longest hit: As alluded to under weakest contact, Jorge Polanco’s three-run home run in the sixth went 389 feet. BUT, switch the tens and ones digit, and you’ll get YoYo’s 398-foot double to left-center field in the eighth for tonight’s longest hit.

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Magic Number: Sweet 16!

Tim Anderson recorded his 15th and 16th stolen bags of the season as he took second base and third base, rather easily, during the third and fifth innings, respectively.

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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

This was the weirdest 216-comment gamethread you’ll ever see, a bad game hijacked by Yermín Mercedes’ retirement. AnoHito prevailed in this one, rather easily.

A pretty big night for comments, but no green. In fact, not even close: