With one win and one loss so far, the Chicago White Sox entered Guaranteed Rate Field today with every intention of finishing off this series the right way — or at least most of them tried to. This was the South Siders’ sixth game against the Boston Red Sox this season, and it didn’t take long for the team to fall behind, as Boston put six runs on the board in the first two innings. The Red Sox eventually won the game, 16-7, dropping the White Sox to 22-22 for the season.
The Starters
It was Dallas Keuchel’s turn to start on the mound for the White Sox, and, well, he showed up. If you were doing a roll call, he would have been marked as “present.” There was 100% definitely a warm body on the mound, and that’s about all there is to say on a positive note because, as has become a worrying trend, Keuchel certainly didn’t add anything of value to the team’s defense. In just two innings, he allowed six runs, seven hits, and thousands of White Sox fans to want to punch a wall. Keuchel’s pitch velocity was a bit faster than his average, which is sort of a pointless observation when none of them seemed able to reach their target.
Keuchel’s 55-pitch outing looked like this:
Michael Wacha started on the bump for the Boston Red Sox, and the White Sox offense gave him a fight. In 4 1⁄3 innings, Wacha allowed seven hits and five runs, striking out only two South Siders.
Wacha’s 88-pitch outing looked like this:
Pressure Play
In the bottom of the third inning, Andrew Vaughn doubled to right, allowing Leury García, Adam Engel and Tim Anderson to score. The play had a 1.75 LI.
Pressure Cooker
White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel faced the most pressure in today’s game, but as is the case in a blowout, it wasn’t a huge amount with only a 0.99 pLI. Unfortunately he was not able to perform under even that modest pressure, and was pulled from the game after just two innings.
Top Play
In the top of the second inning, Boston’s Trevor Story hit a home run, allowing Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez to score along with him. He was credited with a .136 WPA for the play.
Top Performer
Despite the blowout loss, the game’s top performer was our very own superstar Andrew Vaughn, who doubled to get three runners home in the third inning before smashing out a homer to score another two runs in the fifth. Vaughn was credited with a WPA of .224 for today’s efforts.
Smackdown
Hardest Hit: Rafael Devers smashed a double in the second inning and it flew off the bat at 113.7 mph.
Weakest Contact: Tim Anderson grounded out in the first inning at a gentle 50.1 mph.
Luckiest Hit: Trevor Story’s home run in the second inning had an xBA of just .210.
Toughest Out: AJ Pollock’s first inning line out had an xBA of .660.
Longest Hit: Andrew Vaughn’s fifth inning homer flew an impressive 406 feet.
Magic Number: 7.88
After being shelled for six runs in two innings, Dallas Keuchel’s ever-climbing ERA reached an almost impressively-disappointing 7.88. There comes a point where being frustrated with Keuchel’s performance on the mound just feels like screaming into a void, and everything that can be said about him has really already been said by now, but the reality is this — unless the White Sox move Keuchel out of their rotation soon, losses like today’s are going to become an expected norm. This is a good team simply giving away early leads, and it’s a boring and tired problem. Write his high starter’s salary off as a loss and, for the love of god, let Keuchel mop up in the bullpen.
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 the MVP of tonight’s loss to the Red Sox?
This poll is closed
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100%
Andrew Vaughn: 1 R, 2 H, 1 HR, 0 K, .224 WPA
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0%
Adam Engel: 2 R, 2 H, 2 K, .051 WPA
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0%
Reynaldo López: 2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 K, 0.33 WPA
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0%
Matt Foster: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 0.33 WPA
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0%
Tim Anderson: 1 R, 3 H, 1 K, 0.08 WPA
Poll
Who was the worst South Sider in today’s defeat?
This poll is closed
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93%
Dallas Keuchel: 2 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 4 K, -.390 WPA
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3%
Tanner Banks: 1.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 4 K, -.131 WPA
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0%
Yasmani Grandal: 1 R, 0 H, 0 K, -.076 WPA
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3%
AJ Pollock: 0 R, 0 H, 1 K, -.072 WPA
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