Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 6, Rays 5

The Chicago White Sox took two-straight games from the Tampa Bay Rays for the weekend series victory!

The Starters

Lucas Giolito secured the series victory for the South Siders this afternoon. Although his defense let him down a bit, Gio still kept the Sox offense in the game. Through six innings of work, Gio allowed eight hits, five runs (two earned), and two walks; he struck out three. Unfortunately, he did give up two home runs, but he did what he needed to do to ensure a victory.

His 109 pitches break down like this:

Baseball Savant

Ryan Yarbrough continued his tough season. Through his five outs of work, Ryan allowed eight hits, six runs, and two walks. He struck out none and did not allow a home run, but the Good Guys got to the lefty very early and very efficiently.

Ryan’s brief, 68-pitch afternoon looks like this:

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

To begin the save and preserving a one-run lead, Liam Hendriks induced a 3.22 LI fly out off the bat of Isaac Paredes for the first out of Liam’s successful 16th save of the season.

Pressure Cooker

Tasked with the one-run save opportunity in back-to-back games, Hendriks’ 2.38 pLI was the most accumulated from any player today.

Top Play

With the bases loaded and one out in the first, Jake Burger — who continues to prove he should stay with the Sox — recorded a .172 WPA ground-rule double. That opened the scoring, 2-0, for the Good Guys.

Top Performer

With the pressure comes the opportunity to thrive, and Liam Hendriks did just that with his .171 WPA.

Smackdown

Hardest hit: Yandy Díaz smoked a 113.2 mph single off of Aaron Bummer in the seventh inning.

Weakest contact: Right before today’s hardest hit, Manuel Margot notched a 55.9 mph ground out against Bummer in the seventh. Gotta love the juxtaposition!

Luckiest hit: José Abreu’s eighth-inning single off of Jason Adam is an out 76% of the time.

Toughest out: Lucas Giolito gave up a .640 xBA fly out to Ji-Man Choi in the second.

Longest hit: Isaac Paredes bested Giolito for a 410-foot home run in the fifth inning.

Magic Number: 11

The White Sox finished 11-8 against the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, and New York Yankees during this 2022 season.

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