Six Pack of Stats: Rays 8, White Sox 4

After a 7-5 win in the first game of the series yesterday, the White Sox fell to the Rays 8-4 today. The American League-leading Rays move to 76-48, and the AL Central-leading White Sox fall to 72-52.

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The Starters

Dallas Keuchel had his 24th start of the season, going five innings, giving up six earned runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out three. He had a 10.80 ERA, a 3.17 FIP, and a 6.01 xFIP on the game.

Keuchel used four different pitches in his 84-pitch start; sinker, changeup, and cutter were his three most-used offerings. Keuchel threw his sinker the most often, accounting for 27 of his pitches, while his third-most used pitch, his cutter, was thrown 24 times. Keuchel’s changeup generated the most swings-and-misses, with Rays hitters whiffing four times against the pitch. He had the highest CSW% on his slider, with three of his eight sliders being called strikes (a 38% CSW rate). Keuchel’s CSW rate of 17% for the game is 10.2% lower than his season CSW rate of 27.2%. Keuchel gained velocity on his changeup and slider while losing velocity on his sinker and cutter. Keuchel saw an increase in spin rate on every pitch except his sinker. None of Keuchel’s pitches gained vertical break. He gained horizontal movement on every pitch except his slider.

Baseball Savant

Luis Patiño started for the Rays, his 10th start of the season. Patiño went six innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits and a walk while striking out five. He gave up one home run (Seby Zavala). Patiño had a 3.00 ERA, a 4.17 FIP, and a 3.78 xFIP for the game.

Patiño used four different pitches in his 91-pitch start, primarily using his 4-seamer (68 times). He generated the most swings-and-misses with his 4-seamer, getting White Sox batters to whiff on 11 of 36 swings against the fastball. Patiño also got 12 called strikes with his 4-seamer, good for a 34% CSW rate on the pitch. Patiño’s CSW rate of 29% for the game was 2.5% higher than his season CSW rate of 26.5%. He gained velocity on all four of his pitches, with the highest increase coming from his curveball. Patiño gained spin rate on every pitch except the 4-seamer. His slider was his only pitch that didn’t lose vertical movement. His 4-seamer was his only pitch that gained horizontal movement.

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With runners on first and second with nobody out in the top of the second with the Rays leading 3-0, White Sox right fielder Jake Lamb grounded into a double play. The plate appearance had a 1.99 LI, the most pressure of any in the game.

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Pressure Cooker

Rays reliever Louis Head had a total pLI of 1.02 in his one-third inning of work, giving up two earned runs on two hits. Head was the only player in today’s game with a pLI of at least 1.00.

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Top Play

Rays second basemen Brandon Lowe made his first plate appearance of the game with runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the first, with the Rays leading 1-0. Lowe sent the first pitch of the at-bat 381 feet to center field for a double, scoring two runs. The double added .148 WPA for the Rays, the most WPA added during a single plate appearance.

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Top Performer

Lowe went 2-for-4 from the plate, scoring a run and having two RBIs from the first inning double. His total WPA for the game was .153, the most of any player.

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Smackdown

Luckiest hit: With runners on first and second with two outs during a scoreless game in the bottom of the first, Rays shortstop Wander Franco hit a double off of the third-base bag, driving in a run to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. The extra-base hit had an xBA of .090, the lowest of any in the game.

Toughest out: Leading off the bottom of the fourth, Rays right fielder Manuel Margot lined out to White Sox center fielder Brian Goodwin. The batted ball had an xBA of .830.

Hardest hit: Leading off the top of the seventh, White Sox left fielder Andrew Vaughn hit a ground ball single to center field. The ball was hit at 110.4 mph, beating out White Sox first baseman José Abreu’s sixth-inning, 110.3-mph double for the game’s hardest-hit ball.

Weakest contact: With a 7-4 Rays lead in the bottom of the eighth with one out and a runner on third, Rays third baseman Joey Wendle hit a 29.7 mph ground out to third base, scoring a run and giving the Rays an 8-4 lead. The batted ball had the game’s lowest exit velocity.

Longest hit: White Sox center fielder Brian Goodwin took his final at-bat of the game with a runner on first and nobody out with the Rays leading 6-2 in the top of the eighth inning. Goodwin hit a 413-foot double to center for his lone hit of the game. No batted ball traveled farther during today’s game.

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Magic Number: 4

With today’s loss, the White Sox find themselves four games back in the American League standings behind the leading Rays, and a game back of the second-place Houston Astros. Chicago and Tampa meet for the final time this season tomorrow at 12:10 p.m.

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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

With 123 commenters, it was a modest thread. In the battle between nets’ negativity and Schoolly’s positive vibes, Nello Rubio snuck in for the win, at 24 comments.

The only green today was awarded for Gutteridge70 for his take on soccer/fútbol: