Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 17, Cubs 13

Yasmani Grandal was not going to allow his first game back from injury to be a dud, as it appeared to be in the first inning. The Chicago White Sox scored 13 unanswered runs in the middle of the game to best the Chicago Cubs and reclaim the Crosstown Cup!

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The Starters

Dallas Keuchel continues to struggle. I was not a happy camper six runs into the top of the first inning, and Keuchel does not have anyone to blame but himself for that disaster. He was removed from the game after a leadoff single in the second, as Tony La Russa was done with him, too. Through one-plus inning of play, Keuchel gave up seven hits, six runs (five earned), and one walk. He did strike out one batter.

The 43 pitches Dallas threw break down like this:

Baseball Savant

Keuchel has a short month to turn it around.

Keegan Thompson pitched better than Dallas, but did not have a good outing, either. He gave up a run in the first, but credit to the young pitcher, got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam. Trouble found him again in the third, forcing Thompson to depart the game without recording an out that inning. He pitched two-plus innings giving up five hits, five runs (four earned), and two walks, Like Dallas, he also struck out a batter.

Thompson’s 62-pitch night went like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With the bases loaded in the third and an extended inning due to an Andrew Romine error, Eloy Jiménez singled home two more runs for a 9-6 score with a liner to left field. A 2.57 LI play turning to gold; thanks, Cubs!

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Pressure Cooker

Adrian Sampson’s 1.46 pLI came to him over one inning after relieving Keegan Thompson. He gave up two hits, four runs (only one earned), and one walk.

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Top Play

Down by three with two on and nobody out in the third inning, Yasmani Grandal — back from surgery and rehab — crushed a three-run blast to right field to tie the game on an adrenaline-boosting, .219-WPA play!

(He hit another three-run home run in the eighth, just because!)

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Top Performer

Eloy Jiménez’s .230 WPA bested Yasmani Grandal’s .193 WPA, but tonight belonged to Yaz.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: With two on and nobody out in the first, Patrick Wisdom took a fastball right down the middle to the left-field bleachers for a three-run blast at 114.2 mph.

Weakest contact: Jason Heyward’s 41.4 mph single in the first trickled right past Dallas Keuchel, and César Hernández could not get to it in time to throw Jason out at first.

Luckiest hit: Austin Romine’s .050 xBA single in the first somehow dribbled its way to Leury García in right field.

Toughest out: Andrew Vaughn was robbed of a home run to end the fourth inning. This baseball carried a .650 xBA, and Michael Hermosillo, with the Cubs down 9-6 at the time, wanted to stop the bleeding.

Longest hit: Patrick Wisdom’s hardest hit traveled 448 feet.

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Magic Number: 8

Yasmani Grandal, baby! He recorded EIGHT RBIs in his return from injury. Yeah, the South Siders have definitely missed him!

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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

Holy crap, 17 runs but still needing a ninth-inning closer, plus Cubs, equals 521 comments! And what a barnburner, as AnoHito, FROM THE BALLPARK NO LESS, edges Trooper Galactus by one tonight:

Unsurprisingly, tons of green tonight during a lively and heart-rending game. BillyK0ch took the crown with 10 big recs at one of the Romines’ expense: