Six Pack of Stats: Royals 5, White Sox 0

The White Sox dropped the final game of a four-game series in Kansas City, losing 5-0 to the Royals. Chicago (60-43) picked up its lone win in the series on Tuesday, while the Royals (45-56) took three of four against the AL Central’s first-place team.

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The Starters

Carlos Rodón started for the White Sox, pitching four innings while giving up four earned runs on eight hits, including two home runs. Rodón struck out four batters. His game xFIP of 3.83 was 5.17 runs lower than his game ERA of 9.00.

Rodón threw his 4-seam fastball and his slider the most in today’s start, with the two pitches making up 65 of his 74 pitches thrown. His CSW rates on his 4-seamer and slider were 19% and 17%, respectively. His overall CSW% of 23.0 was down 9.6% from his season rate of 32.6%. Rodón lost velocity on all four pitches in his arsenal.

Baseball Savant

Carlos Hernandez pitched a quality start for the Royals, going for six innings and giving up four hits and one walk while striking out four White Sox batters in a shutout performance for the Royals pitchers. Hernandez had a game xFIP of 4.41.

Hernandez used five different pitches in today’s start. He used his 4-seam fastball the most, with the pitch making up 34 of his 84 total pitches thrown. Hernandez lost 1.9 mph on his 4-seamer but gained 2.0 inches of vertical spin. His overall 26.0% CSW rate was 1.1% lower than his season rate of 27.1%.

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

The White Sox turned the heat up on Carlos Hernandez early, getting runners on the corners with two outs in the top of the first inning. Andrew Vaughn flew out on a hard-hit ball to right field. The at-bat had an LI of 1.70, the highest of any plate appearance during the game.

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Pressure Cooker

Every player in today’s game had a pLI of less than 1.00. White Sox shortstop Danny Mendick pulled an 0.84, the highest of any player.

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Top Play

After a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of yesterday’s game, Royals DH Salvador Perez started his day with a two-run shot to center field in the bottom of the first. The home run added .160 WPA for Kansas City.

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Top Performer

In six innings of work, Royals starter Carlos Hernandez had a WPA of .246, the most WPA of any player during the game.

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Smackdown

Luckiest hit: Leading off the top of the second, White Sox right fielder Brian Goodwin hit a ground ball single to left field. The base hit had an xBA of .230, the lowest of any hit during the game.

Toughest out: Two batters after Goodwin’s .230 xBA single, White Sox catcher Zack Collins grounded into a double play. The GIDP had an xBA of .660, the highest xBA of any out in the game.

Hardest hit: Salvador Perez hit his first-inning homer at 108.9 mph, the highest exit velocity of any batted ball.

Weakest contact: In the bottom of the fourth, Royals catcher Cam Gallagher lined out to second base. The line out fluttered off of Gallagher’s bat at 55.3 mph.

Longest hit: Perez’s home run in the first traveled 446 feet into the Kauffman Stadium waterfall. No batted ball went further during the game.

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Magic Number: 6

Today’s 5-0 loss is the sixth time the White Sox have been shut out in 2021. Three of the six shutouts have been against AL Central teams, with Cleveland authoring the other two. The White Sox entered today’s game with a 108 wRC+, the fourth-best among MLB teams this season.

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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

In part fueled (or, mostly fueled) by trade deadline excitement, this weekday game thread topped out at 177 comments, with AnoHito powering to another win.

It wasn’t the most charitable moment in the gamethread, but hey, here it is, RSWS got eight harrumphs to go deep green for his gamethread copy analysis: