Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 3, Rays 2

The White Sox faced off against the Rays for the second game of the series. While the matchup was again close, Liam Hendriks (the player, not the bobblehead) pulled out all of the theatrics for an exciting win.

The Starters

Michael Kopech had a shaky start, but was able to focus and work another pitch into his arsenal. His pitch velocity dipped a little with his curveball, but his fastball stayed on par and stunned batters. Kopech made it through five innings, recording five strikeouts and only one earned run.

Kopech’s 75-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Corey Kluber was off to a great start, but fortunately for the White Sox, José Abreu has started to warm up. After Abreu’s big hit, Kluber started crumbling. He had four strikeouts but the two earned runs might end up haunting him.

Kluber’s 75-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

With two outs and bases loaded, Liam Hendriks was able to secure the win as Taylor Walls struck out swinging. Perhaps Hendriks wanted some drama for his bobblehead day, but my blood pressure was not a fan of his 9.21 LI.

Pressure Cooker

Once again, Liam Hendriks was under pressure as he attempted the save. His pLI was 4.98. Liam, please give everyone a stress-free outing every once in a while.

Top Play

José Abreu put the White Sox up by one with his first home run of the season. With Tim Anderson on second, the White Sox were able to steal the lead. Abreu’s WPA was .226.

Top Performer

José Abreu takes home the prize today, with a .192 overall WPA. His home run allowed a huge momentum shift for the White Sox, allowing the team to rally back and win the game.

Smackdown

Hardest hit: Harold Ramirez smoked a ball in the ninth. The ball left the bat at 112 mph, but was thankfully only a single.

Weakest contact: Randy Arozarena’s first-inning single was just a light tap, at 56.4 mph.

Luckiest hit: Yasmani Grandal’s sixth-inning single had an xBA of only 0.60.

Toughest out: On a wild day, Yasmani Grandal fit both categories. Grandal had an xBA of .760 for his fourth-inning fly out. It was a hard-hit ball (EV of 101.5 mph) and traveled 394 feet. Once again, it would have been a summer home run.

Longest hit: José Abreu’s fourth-inning home run traveled exactly 400 feet. Welcome back, Pito!

Magic Number: 5

A lot of people are still understandably worried about Michael Kopech. Thankfully, a rough beginning of the game didn’t seem to bring him down, and he was able to eat five innings! This is the progress we hope to see with starting pitchers, especially this early in the 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