Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 4, Tigers 2

The Chicago White Sox came back from an early deficit to defeat the Detroit Tigers, splitting the weekend series.

The Starters

Michael Kopech, reaching a dead arm period this year, pitched how he needed to against the Tigers. In 5 ¹⁄₃ innings, Michael allowed two runs — a first-inning, two-run blast for Javier Báez. Apart from that hit, Kopech allowed three more hits and walked three. He struck out four, while his fastball velocity averaged 92.1 mph compared to his season average of 95.

His watchful 82-pitch performance looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Drew Hutchison pitched well against the Sox, but he was left in the game to see it become tied via a Gavin Sheets home run in the sixth, and Eloy Jiménez was just short of a go-ahead home run.

Hutchison pitched six innings where he gave up five hits, one walk, and two runs. He did strike out three.

His 87-pitch outing went down like this:

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

Brought in as a pinch-hitter for Gavin Sheets, AJ Pollock singled to right field with two outs in the eighth to drive in the go-ahead run — a 3.46 LI play.

Pressure Cooker

Coming in to pinch hit with two outs, a runner in scoring position, and a tied game, AJ Pollock tallied a 3.46 pLI, but he defeated the pressure and secured a clutch hit!

Top Play

It’s AJ Pollock theme day, as his go-ahead, RBI single created .288 WPA.

Top Performer

Kendall Graveman, facing the 2-3-4 batters, secured a 1-2-3 inning and a .102 WPA.

Smackdown

Hardest hit: Riley Greene’s third inning single left his bat at 112.1 mph.

Weakest contact: Michael Kopech induced a 66.7 mph ground out off the bat of Robbie Grossman in the second inning.

Luckiest hit: In the fifth inning, Victor Reyes recorded a .110 xBA single.

Toughest out: Miguel Cabrera lined out (.750 xBA) against Kendall Graveman in the eighth.

Longest hit: Gavin Sheets sent a ball 422 feet to the right-field bleachers to tie the game 2-2 in the sixth!

Magic Number: 92

Michael Kopech’s fastball average steadied itself at 92 mph, as opposed to his 95 mph average throughout the season. In his first full season as starter, this is expected, but if there is a lingering injury, the Sox need to be cautious and smart with how they go about handling him.

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