Six Pack of Stats: Royals 6, White Sox 0

Congrats to the Royals, I guess, on their first road win of the season. The White Sox extended their losing streak, now at eight.

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The Starters

Dallas Keuchel actually ALMOST looked like a vintage version of himself for the first three innings. There were still too many bad pitches, but was the Royals were hitless, with only two walks. However, you could tell his command was gone after that, as he struggled to get anywhere near the center of the plate. The fourth inning would show what we’ve seen lately, as the walks increased and he was pulled quickly in the fifth. Of 88 Kid Keuchy tosses, 46 were balls.

Baseball Savant

Baseball Savant

Daniel Lynch — where shall I begin? He shut the White Sox out for six innings. He allowed only two walks and two hits, against seven strikeouts. It was quite possibly the best start in his career. He dismantled the White Sox in every way possible.

Lynch’s 98-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

Hunter Dozier grounded out to shortstop in a 2.37 LI at-bat, but got Salvador Pérez to third and Carlos Santana to second.

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Pressure Cooker

Dallas Keuchel faced the most pressure, against a team that had at the very least lukewarm bats and the ability to walk five times on his watch. Keuchel’s pLI was 1.23.

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Top Play

Bobby Witt Jr.’s single to third brought Salvador Pérez home and pushed Carlos Santana to third. The entire fourth inning for Dallas Keuchel ensured a Royals win, but the WPA for the single was 0.95.

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Top Performer

Daniel Lynch stunned the White Sox at every turn. In a shutout effort, Lynch gave the Royals the best chance to win with a WPA of 0.28.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Jake Burger’s would be a home run in another ballpark with better weather, or whatever excuses we heard on the broadcast. It left the bat at 105.9 mph.

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Weakest contact: Adalberto Mondesí’s sixth-inning single not only had a low xBA, but it was just gently tapped at 45.3 mph.

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Luckiest hit: This would be an out on a normal, error-free night (in I don’t know, 2021 ... 2005 ... 1959?). But thanks to an error, Salvador Pérez got on base with an xBA of only .160.

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Toughest out: Take a guess! Was it Jake Burger’s wannabe home run that didn’t happen because pans in on flags it was windy? Surprisingly, no. Michael Taylor had him beat by 20 points; his sac fly had an xBA of .950.

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Longest hit: That Midwest summer home run turned to fly out by Jake Burger traveled 403 feet.

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Magic Number: 9

The White Sox have committed errors in the last nine games. They lead in Major League Baseball, with 21 total.

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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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