After an abysmal close to the Angels series, the White Sox unleashed their offensive prowess against the Rangers in their weird new ballpark. This is exactly what the White Sox needed to get back on track — and drop their magic number to five.
The Starters
Dylan Cease looked a little rough for the first three innings, but seemed to regain his confidence and command in the fourth inning. It helped to have plenty of insurance runs on his side. In the fifth inning, Cease only threw 11 pitches and three strikeouts.
Cease’s 92-pitch outing looked like this:
Taylor Hearn got the start in Texas tonight. Hearn has had limited opportunities this season, and has been fine for the most part in his eight starts. However, the White Sox took to his fastball and caused the Rangers a lot of pain with RBI doubles.
Hearn’s 85-pitch outing looked like this:
Pressure Play
In the fourth inning, Luis Robert hit a bomb of a double to center, allowing Romy González, Billy Hamilton, and Tim Anderson to score after some infield bobbling. The LI for the hit was 1.88.
Pressure Cooker
Taylor Hearn faced a lot of pressure early on and ultimately didn’t stand a chance against the wide-awake White Sox bats. His pLI was 1.00.
Top Play
The pressure play is also the top play for the evening. Luis Robert’s powerful double that brought three home put the WPA at 1.24.
Top Performer
Dylan Cease had himself a night. His ability to shut the Rangers down through five innings and hand the bullpen an easy win gave him top marks and a WPA of 0.19. Luis Robert was a close second, at 0.18.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: In a game of hard-hit balls, José Abreu’s fourth-inning double took the cake. The ball exited the bat at 110.7 mph.
Weakest contact: César Hernández had a very weak ground out in the second inning, at only 41.3 mph.
Luckiest hit: Yoán Moncada had luck on his side tonight (or perhaps he’s just very good at baseball). His second-inning double only had an xBA of .150, making it the luckiest hit of the night.
Toughest out: Isiah Kiner-Falefa started the third inning with an xBA of .500, but his fly ball was caught in right field.
Longest hit: Luis Robert’s second-inning double traveled 393 feet.
Magic Number: 8
Dylan Cease recorded his eighth double-digit strikeout game this season.
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
Poll
Who was you White Sox MVP?
This poll is closed
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32%
Dylan Cease: 5 IP, 10 Ks, 0.19 WPA
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42%
Luis Robert: 3-5, 3 RBIs, 0.18 WPA
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26%
Romy González: 3-4, 2 Runs, 1 RBI, 0.13 WPA
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0%
José Abreu: 2 H, 2 RBIs, 1 Run
Poll
Who was your White Sox Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
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65%
Yasmani Grandal: 0-5, 1 K, -0.06 WPA
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13%
César Hernández: 1-4, 2 Ks, -0.06 WPA
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20%
The Sox Math Flub
South Side Sox Roll Call
With 45 comments in a 249-comment gamethread, ruffster announced his presence with authority tonight.
# | Commenter | # Comments |
---|---|---|
1 | ruffster | 45 |
2 | 1969Vikings | 34 |
3 | Pointerbabe | 22 |
4 | AnoHito | 18 |
5 | wissoxfan83 | 18 |
6 | Schoolly_D | 14 |
7 | katiesphil | 13 |
8 | WIN05 | 11 |
9 | kinbote | 10 |
10 | Ozziesox | 9 |
11 | seven11 | 9 |
12 | Right Size Wrong Shape | 8 |
13 | mattcoz | 8 |
14 | chibaseball35 | 7 |
15 | steely3000 | 7 |
16 | Gutteridge70 | 5 |
17 | David John Craven | 4 |
18 | obnoxious american | 4 |
19 | baines03 | 2 |
20 | GrinnellSteve | 1 |
seven11 took home the deepest green of the night, with a five-rec chide of AnoHito: