The White Sox already won the Crosstown Series. Life is meaningless and baseball is dumb. Shall we break down this game?
The Starters
Johnny Cueto had a less than ideal start, getting roughed up by Cubs hitters and allowing five hits and three earned runs. It took until the third inning before he could achieve a 1-2-3 inning. Unfortunately, Cueto struggled immediately in the fourth, only to be saved from a bases-loaded situation by a throw to first. Thankfully, the trouble seemed to dissipate and Cueto only allowed one more hit with efficient pitch counts, until Tony La Russa sent him out to rot in the seventh.
Cueto’s 98-pitch outing looked like this:
Keegan Thompson fared a bit better than Cueto, keeping the White Sox from hitting until nearly halfway through the game. Thompson departed before the sixth inning after accumulating four strikeouts against five hits and just one earned run.
Thompson’s 77-pitch outing looked like this:
Pressure Play
With two on and only one out, the White Sox could’ve made up for the early runs allowed. But with Gavin Sheets as DH, that didn’t seem plausible. Flying out to center proved that, as Sheets failed in the face of a 2.04 LI.
Pressure Cooker
Scott Effross apparently faced the most pressure after allowing a walk that could have possibly breathed new life into the White Sox. It didn’t, and Effross struck three of the four batters he faced. His pLI was 1.32.
Top Play
The top play happened early on, sealing the Cubs win: Patrick Wisdom’s first-inning double to right brought Christopher Morel home, and the rest is history.
Top Performer
Keegan Thompson handed the Cubs the win by decimating the White Sox offense and only giving up one run on five hits. Thompson’s WPA was .150.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: Willson Contreras' ninth-inning fly out left the bat at 109.4 mph, and smoke was spotted wafting off of his batting gloves.
Weakest contact: José Abreu managed a fourth-inning single despite lightly tapping the ball at 72.7 mph.
Luckiest hit: Thanks to an overly confident Cubs team missing the ball, Jake Burger made it to first in the seventh inning with an xBA of only .020.
Toughest out: Willson Contreras certainly thought his hit would make its way into the concourse with an xBA of .920, but insert home run-stealer Adam Engel.
ADAM ENGEL TAKES AWAY A HOME RUN pic.twitter.com/7oPqPznYhu
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 29, 2022
Longest hit: The White Sox won something tonight! Jake Burger’s fifth-inning home run off Thompson traveled 424 feet.
Magic Number: 45
It was announced during the game that Tony La Russa has put up 45 different lineups in 45 games. No consistency, no reason for players like Josh Harrison batting second, just vibes.
Glossary
Hard-hit 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
-
53%
Jake Burger: 3-for-4, 1 HR, 0.07 WPA
-
7%
Adam Engel: 2-for-3, 0 Ks, 0.07 WPA, THAT CATCH
-
38%
Dallas Keuchel being DFA’d
Poll
Who was your White Sox Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
24%
Tim Anderson: 0-for-4, 1 K, -0.15 WPA
-
24%
Yasmani Grandal: 2 Ks, -0.05 WPA
-
8%
Johnny Cueto: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, -0.23 WPA
-
44%
Tony La Russa: *gestures broadly*
Loading comments...