The White Sox looked to bounce back in Minnesota after an abysmal series in Cleveland. However, tonight’s lineup felt like a middle finger to fans, and the end only confirmed it by taking away what should have been a win for Michael Kopech.
The Starters
Michael Kopech is back, baby! While his pitch count was a little high in the first two innings, Kopech seemed to figure it out, and dominated with his fastball. Kopech only gave up three hits and one walk, but struck out seven.
Michael Kopech, K'ing the Side with pic.twitter.com/8ryfWgSB7u
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 23, 2022
Kopech’s 83-pitch outing looked like this:
Bailey Ober had great command this evening. With six strikeouts, he kept the White Sox off the board for four innings, with only five hits. Ober relied on his fastball, and had success with called strikes and whiffs.
Ober’s 79-pitch outing looked like this:
Pressure Play
With Emilio Pagán struggling on the mound in the ninth, Jake Burger stepped up to the plate with bases loaded. Oh, and there were two outs. Burger struck out looking, and ended the game. Burger’s LI was off the charts, at 9.22.
Pressure Cooker
Emilio Pagán pulled out a save despite pitching poorly and getting some kind calls. His pLI was 5.78 in the ninth inning.
Top Play
Known pain in the side for the White Sox, Carlos Correa singled to shortstop. Then, as if the Three Stooges swapped bodies with the White Sox, Tim Anderson overthrew to first, and José Abreu threw a completely unnecessary throw to the plate that Reese McGuire couldn’t get to. This brought in the tying run and the winning run for the Twins. Correa’s “single” had a WPA of .579.
Top Performer
Carlos Correa, one of the players that lives in my nightmares, was the top performer, with his single that brought in two. His WPA was 0.46.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: Eloy Jiménez started off the ninth inning with a hard-hit double. The ball flew off the bat at 110.6 mph.
Weakest contact: Just as everyone expected, Leury García had the first hit of the game, a single. That hit only left the bat at 66.9 mph.
Luckiest hit: Trevor Larnach was one of three Twins who were able to get a hit off of Kopech. His single in the fifth inning had an xBA of just .080.
Toughest out: Jorge Polanco’s seventh-inning ground out looked like it would be a hit, with an xBA of .550.
Longest hit: Andrew Vaughn’s wonderful solo home run traveled 424 feet.
Magic Number: 1
A few things — the White Sox are 1-for-40 in the eighth inning this season.
Tim Anderson will serve a one-game suspension for flipping Cleveland fans the bird back on Wednesday.
The White Sox only scored one run today. Micheal Kopech deserved better, after his impressive performance on the mound this evening.
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 White Sox MVP?
This poll is closed
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100%
Michael Kopech: 5 IP, 7 Ks, 0.29 WPA
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0%
Andrew Vaughn: solo home run, 1 BB, 0.18 WPA
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0%
SSS writer Zach Hayes: mentioned by Jason on the broadcast about his Michael Kopech article, which is honestly good for about .875 WPA
Poll
Who was your White Sox Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
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19%
Tony La Russa: *gestures broadly*
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76%
Tim Anderson: 0-4, 2 Ks, dreadful error
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4%
Kendall Graveman: 1 ER, 1 BB, -0.49 WPA
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0%
Jake Burger: 0-4, 2 Ks, -0.31 WPA
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