Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 4, Twins 1

The Charlotte Knights, whoops, I mean Chicago White Sox faced the Minnesota Twins for Game 2 of the series. Once again, the baseball gods were angered and asked for a sacrifice and Yasmani Grandal, known for getting on base, was summoned. Despite missing a laundry list of players, the White Sox evened the series in a wet and wild win.

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The Starters

Who doesn’t enjoy a good pitchers’ duel? Despite the White Sox taking an early lead, both starting pitchers brought the heat during a rainy night in Minnesota.

Carlos Rodón dominated through six innings, primarily with the 4-seam fastball. Charged with only one run, Rodón racked up eight strikeouts and nearly shut the Twins out.

Rodón’s 104-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

José Berríos pitched through seven innings and managed to strike out 10. He relied on the curveball and sinker the most.

Berríos’ 91-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

The sixth inning was as high-stakes as you could get in this game. Two plays tipped the LI scale: Alex Kirilloff’s single allowing Luis Arráez to score and advance Nelson Cruz, as well as Max Kepler’s swinging strikeout; both clocked in at 3.14 LI.

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Pressure Cooker

Michael Kopech faced some pressure in the seventh inning, but Trevor Larnach faced the most in the same inning with a ground out. His pLI was 3.02.

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Top Play

Alex Kirilloff’s single mentioned above was the top play. It briefly gave the Twins a false sense of security, which was quickly destroyed by Rodón. The single that allowed the Twins’ sole run had a WPA of .185.

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Top Performer

Carlos Rodón came out on top by nearly shutting the Twins out. The insurance runs certainly helped, but the game was ultimately over by the sixth inning. Rodón’s WPA was 0.25. That’s my ace!

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Danny Mendick’s second inning ground out exited at 109.5 mph.

Weakest contact: Trevor Larnach struggled against Michael Kopech and barely hit the ball, exiting at 34.2 mph for a ground out in the seventh inning.

Luckiest hit: Nelson Cruz took advantage of a tired Rodón and somehow got on base with a single despite only having an xBA of .050.

Toughest out: I hope you had money on Billy Hamilton’s ninth inning insane catch, because you would be correct. Max Kepler had a chance to start a rally with an xBA of .900, but Hamilton’s slip-and-slide heroics stole the game from the Twins.

Longest hit: Max Kepler thought he did something with his ninth inning contact off of Hendriks, as the ball traveled 385 feet. Unfortunately for the Twins, it only traveled into Billy Hamilton’s glove.

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Magic Number: 50

We’ve made it to 50, y’all! For a season that has been plagued with injuries, the White Sox remain in first place, with 50 wins under their belt.

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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

What a battle tonight, a three-way fight among 83, 3000 and ruffster. wissoxfan83 prevailed by a slim margin.

No green on this 156-comment night, with just two double-recs: