Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 8, Cubs 6 (10 innings)

The Chicago White Sox faced a collection of guys claiming to be the Chicago Cubs in the least-anticipated Crosstown matchup in recent memory. Lance Lynn was tremendous, Craig Kimbrel was awful, and the Sox bats came alive in extras to secure the victory.

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The Starters

Lance Lynn continued his run of excellent starts. He struck out eight Cubs batters over six innings and allowed four hits to go along with two walks. He is credited with allowing one earned run, when a bunt single came around to score after he was removed for Michael Kopech.

Because the National League values tradition or something, Lynn also had an impact at the plate. He had two at-bats with the bases loaded, both ending in strikeouts.

Lynn’s 100-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Kyle Hendricks, with a few assists from umpire Brian O’Nora, had an effective start. Sox hitters struggled to hit the ball in the air, and were off-balance against Hendricks.

Hendricks’ 98-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With a LI of 3.82, Ian Happ was at the plate with the game on the line in the ninth inning and a runner on second. Liam Hendricks struck him out to end the threat, and followed it with his patented screaming fist-pump.

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Pressure Cooker

After Craig Kimbrel imploded, Liam Hendriks shut down the Cubs to send the game to extras. He recorded four high-pressure outs, good for a pLI of 2.31.

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Top Play

Up until today, Craig Kimbrel was the best reliever in baseball and Andrew Romine was just a guy. One would think a three-run lead would be safe in this matchup, but Romine took Kimbrel deep to tie up the ballgame in the eighth inning. It was the biggest swing in win expectancy all game, and good for a .445 WPA.

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Top Performer

As mentioned above, Andrew Romine had the biggest hit of the game which propelled him to the lead in total WPA with .439. For the White Sox, Liam Hendriks led the way with a .358 WPA.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Adam Engel was the only White Sox player hitting for most of the game, and he had the hardest-hit ball all day: His double in the seventh inning came off the bat at 109.8 mph.

Weakest contact: Andrew Romine makes yet another appearance, due to his 31.1 bunt single to lead off the seventh.

Luckiest hit: Of course it’s Andrew Romine, who was able to tie the game with a fly ball that found its way into the basket despite having an xBA of .170.

Toughest out: David Bote hit a rocket off of Michael Kopech that had an xBA of .890. He had to settle for a sacrifice fly.

Longest hit: Frank Schwindel, a player I have definitely heard of before today, hit a ball 402 feet off Garrett Crochet in the 10th inning.

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Magic Number: 2

Two represents the number of times Kimbrel has now allowed four hits in an appearance for his career. It also is the number of earned runs given up by Kimbrel prior to today.

On the positive side, two also represents the number of runs driven by Brian Goodwin. It is the first multi-run homer to lead off an inning in White Sox history. Thanks, Rob Manfred!

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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 392-comment gamethread required extra innings to determine the top commenter. Nello Rubio edged out baines03 by three.

Today’s green comments go to mattcoz and shumway for their measured responses.