Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 5, Tigers 2

After a bitter loss in Detroit yesterday, the White Sox bounced back in a somewhat-less stressful game against the Tigers. Dylan Cease dazzled, and five runs kept the White Sox on top for the entire game.

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The Starters

Dylan Cease, known owner of the Tigers, was ice-cold on the mound today. Some say it was the power of the mustache, others say it was the killer slider. Either way, Cease was outstanding today.

Cease’s 79-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Casey Mize struggled against the Sox early on. His pitching was adequate, but he faced a lineup that swung early and often. Once Yasmani Grandal took him deep, Mize was pulled.

Mize’s 81-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With only one out in the sixth, Eric Haase grounded out into a double play, and Leury García redeemed himself. Jonathan Schoop was out at second. The LI on this play for Haase was 3.14.

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Pressure Cooker

Reynaldo López faced a lot of pressure as he loaded up the bases with zero outs. His pLI was 1.99. However, he did make a great play at the plate, when Javier Báez ran into a first out at home plate. All is forgiven.

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Top Play

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Eloy Jiménez singled to center, bringing in Luis Robert and José Abreu. This put the Sox on top, with a WPA of .153.

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Top Performer

Dylan Cease undoubtedly gave the Sox some room to breathe with his outstanding start. His consistency with both the slider and the fastball stunned the Tigers and Cease earned a WPA of 0.26.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: The Sox hit for power today, with nine of 10 players in the Top 10 in exit velocity. Leading the pack was Luis Robert at 109.7 mph, for his seventh-inning single.

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Weakest contact: Josh Harrision’s ninth inning ground out was tapped at a beastly 66.6 mph.

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Luckiest hit: Austin Meadows somehow found himself on first base with a first-inning single that carried an xBA of only .150.

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Toughest out: Without the poor weather, Luis Robert’s third-inning fly out could have been gone. Instead, the 338-foot hit was caught, despite an xBA of .920.

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Longest hit: Why do we love Yasmani Grandal? He gets on base. All of them, in this case. His two-run homer traveled 408 feet.

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Magic Number: 2

Two seemed to be the number of the day. Two-run homer, two insane double plays, a double for Josh Harrison. Plus, I’m writing two stories today. All in the second game of this first series.

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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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