Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 8, Tigers 0

The White Sox won’t succumb to a four-game sweep by the Tigers! The bats were hot today, but Johnny Cueto was on fire. In eight innings, Cueto shut the Tigers out and had plenty of run support to get a well-deserved win. Let’s break this game down, shall we?

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The Starters

Johnny Cueto was outstanding on the mound today. He only allowed five hits (all but one were singles), racked up five strikeouts, and was able to get through eight innings, the longest start for the White Sox all season. Yep, Cueto is the first Sox starter to record an out in the eighth inning this season.

Cueto’s 101-pitch outing looked like this:

Garrett Hill’s second career start was a rough one. While he calmed down a bit after the fourth inning, it was not enough damage control to paper over six hits, two walks, and six earned runs. The White Sox took advantage of his weaknesses, and the Tigers couldn’t offer up any run support.

Hill’s 97-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With two on and just one out in the first inning, José Abreu fouled out to first. This game was certainly a low-pressure game for the White Sox, as the highest LI was just 1.95 for the play.

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Pressure Cooker

José Abreu actually faced the most pressure for today’s game, possibly going back to the fouling out at first. He still walked away with two hits and two RBIs, but had a pLI of just 0.65.

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Top Play

Gavin Sheets put the White Sox on the board in the first inning with a three-run bomb. It ultimately secured the win for the South Siders with a WPA of .257.

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Top Performer

While I’d argue this, FanGraphs told me that Gavin Sheets was the star of the game, just a little over Johnny Cueto. Sheets’ three-run homer gave him the highest WPA (.251).

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: José Abreu’s second-inning double was tattooed at 109.9 mph.

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Weakest contact: Yoán Moncada's first-inning single was meekly tapped at 73.6 mph.

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Luckiest hit: Jeimer Candelario managed to be one of the five hits off Johnny Cueto, and his fifth-inning safety was the luckiest, with an xBA of just .070.

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Toughest out: In a desperate attempt to keep the ninth inning going, Kody Clemens had an xBA of .670, but Luis Robert was there to catch the ball and end the game.

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Longest hit: One of the heroes of the game, Gavin Sheets knocked a ball out into the seats, traveling approximately 408 feet.

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Magic Number: 21

In the sixth inning, Tim Anderson drove in his 21st run of the season.

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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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