Vuvuzelas could be heard, Gordon Beckham continued to use self-deprecating humor, and the White Sox bats were cold. On a positive note, it’s a new day (at least by the time you’re reading this), the final game is earlier, and Cleveland continues to assist Chicago’s drive to a division title.
The Starters
A struggling Dallas Keuchel took the mound for this very late game. Looking to redeem himself after quite a few rough starts, Keuchel put in the effort for nearly six innings. He was not great, but we all know he could have been way worse. However, the offense opted out of helping with run support by continuing the double-play game.
Keuchel’s 94-pitch outing looked like this:
Frankie Montas had a good night against the Sox, with seven recorded strikeouts and only six hits through seven innings. The only Sox run was due to an error, so while it wasn’t a shutout, Montas controlled the game with help from the A’s offense.
Montas’ 105-pitch outing looked like this:
Pressure Play
Yoán Moncada had a chance to be the hero in the fifth inning, with César Hernández and Brian Goodwin on and the opportunity to tie the game. Unfortunately, a fly out to center would end the inning. Moncada’s LI was 2.93.
Pressure Cooker
Frankie Montas got the win for the A’s, facing the most pressure in the game as well, as he kept the White Sox from doing any real damage for seven innings. His pLI was 1.36.
Top Play
César Hernández provided a small glimmer of hope in the fifth. Hernández reached on fielder’s choice to first, Leury García scored and Brian Goodwin advanced to third on an error. Hernández’s WPA for the Sox topped the chart at .160.
Top Performer
Frankie Montas came out on top with a WPA of 0.26. In seven innings, Montas was only charged with one run, only allowed six hits, and struck out seven batters.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: José Abreu smoked a ground ball in the seventh inning for a single. The ball came off the bat at 114.5 mph.
Weakest contact: Gavin Sheets’ second inning ground out only left the bat at 58.4 mph.
Luckiest hit: César Hernández reached base thanks to fielder’s choice in the fifth. His xBA was only .060.
Toughest out: The first inning line out for Josh Harrison had an xBA of .800
Longest hit: The sole home run of the game was also the longest hit, belonging to Matt Chapman. His second inning home run traveled 402 feet.
Magic Number: 14
Thanks, Cleveland! I’m ready for the White Sox to clinch and be back to full strength for postseason baseball.
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 your MVP for the 9/8 game?
This poll is closed
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31%
César Hernández: 1 H, 1 RBI, 0.19 WPA
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37%
Yasmani Grandal: 2 H, 0.04 WPA
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10%
Leury García: 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0.05 WPA
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20%
Romy González: 1 H, 0.01 WPA
Poll
Who was your Cold Cat for the 9/8 game?
This poll is closed
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0%
Gavin Sheets: 0-3, 1K -0.13 WPA
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6%
Luis Robert: 0-4, -0.19 WPA
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50%
Andrew Vaughn: 0-4, 2 Ks, -0.13 WPA
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43%
Dallas Keuchel: 5 ER, -0.19 WPA
South Side Sox Roll Call
A late game makes it tough to generate big comments numbers, and the second game in Oakland was no different, landing just 137 comments. Trooper Galactus and 1969Vikings duked it out for the top spot.
# | Commenter | # Comments |
---|---|---|
1 | Trooper Galactus | 25 |
2 | 1969Vikings | 21 |
3 | ruffster | 19 |
4 | WIN05 | 14 |
5 | Right Size Wrong Shape | 12 |
6 | Pointerbabe | 10 |
7 | David John Craven | 8 |
8 | seven11 | 4 |
9 | Gutteridge70 | 4 |
10 | NothinbutNets7 | 3 |
11 | AnoHito | 3 |
12 | steely3000 | 3 |
13 | mrridgman | 2 |
14 | Ozziesox | 2 |
15 | baines03 | 2 |
16 | obnoxious american | 2 |
17 | Kongming, Sleeping Dragon | 1 |
18 | GrinnellSteve | 1 |
19 | Mark P. Liptak | 1 |
The only green of the night comes from Trooper, sassing Cleveland.