Six Pack of Stats: Royals 3, White Sox 2

The Chicago White Sox faced the Kansas City Royals in a rubber match, ahead of their weekend road trip across town to the newly opened Spirit Halloween. Last night was not great, and tonight was somehow even more heartbreaking.

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The Starters

Dallas Keuchel was his normal self (circa this season). Not great, but also not awful. Keuchel only allowed two runs on three hits, survived the dreaded third time through the batting order, and lasted six innings. I’ve watched (and covered) some not-so-great Keuchel starts, so this outing was a pleasant surprise. If only the offense could have provided him with any run support.

Keuchel’s 95-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

The last time left-handed pitcher Daniel Lynch faced the White Sox was May 8, when he gave up eight runs in the first inning. Unfortunately, Lynch was pretty good tonight, especially when he threw sliders.

Lynch’s 95-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

Adam Engel had the chance to be the hero Dallas Keuchel needed, but struck out swinging with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning. Engel had a bad night, including that K, coming under very heavy, 3.86 LI pressure.

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Pressure Cooker

Replacing a frazzled Daniel Lynch, Josh Staumont faced the most pressure all game, as he worked to keep the White Sox at only one run. Staumont worked his way out of the inherited mess and tipped the pLI scales at 2.80.

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Top Play

Emmanuel Rivera solidified this Royals win before the White Sox could even reach the bottom of the first inning. Rivera’s double to center allowed Salvador Perez and Hunter Dozier to score. Rivera’s WPA was .181 with the double.

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Top Performer

As mentioned above, Josh Staumont kept the Royals out of the jam Daniel Lynch started, keeping the White Sox from scoring. Staumont’s WPA for his sixth inning heroics was .245.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Aside from carrying the team on his back for the second night in a row, José Abreu also had the hardest hit. Abreu’s sixth inning single was smashed at 111.1 mph.

Weakest contact: An unusually cold Tim Anderson had the weakest contact, in the fifth inning, when his ground out left the bat at 57.9 mph.

Luckiest hit: There weren’t any “lucky” hits tonight, in a rare case. César Hernández’s single in the fourth inning had the lowest xBA of any safety, at .350.

Toughest out: Tonight was a bad night to be Adam Engel. He went 0-for-4 and couldn’t make the catches that would’ve prevented all three runs. He also had the toughest out of the evening, with a seventh inning line out that had an xBA of .600.

Longest hit: José Abreu not only smashed the ball when he could, but his first inning home run also went the distance — 427 feet, to be exact.

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Magic Number: 3

Because I’d rather end on a happy note, Luis Robert hit a three-run home team for Charlotte this evening. We’ll likely see him make his triumphant return to the White Sox after Sunday’s game, as he will miss the weekend series against the other Chicago baseball team. Perhaps he’ll surprise fans next week by pushing through the cornstalks that lead to center field.

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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 186-comment gamethread featured a fierce fight for top commenter. ruffster, in what I believe is his first win of the year, edged returning champion Pointerbabe by one.

We were stingy with the green again, with just one comment turning tonight. RSWS nabbed it: