Six Pack of Stats: Royals 6, White Sox 4

The Kansas City Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox, 6-4, Monday at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals move to 50-74, 16 games behind the Guardians for the AL Central division lead. The White Sox drop to 62-60, three games back of Cleveland.

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The Starters

Michael Kopech made his 23rd start of the season for Chicago, leaving with left knee soreness after facing four batters without recording an out.

Kopech used a three-pitch arsenal, losing both velocity and spin on all three pitches.

His short start played out like this:

Baseball Savant

Daniel Lynch made his 20th start of the season with the Royals. Lynch went 4 ²⁄₃ innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and four walks.

Lynch used a five-pitch arsenal in his 87-pitch start. He had a 44% whiff rate on his slider, generating four whiffs and four called strikes for a 36% CSW rate. Lynch gained velocity on his entire arsenal.

Here’s the numbers behind Lynch’s start:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With the bases loaded, one out in the bottom of the eighth in a 4-4 tie game, Royals right fielder Drew Waters walked to drive in Kansas City’s go-ahead run.

The plate appearance had a 4.65 LI.

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Pressure Cooker

Joe Kelly had a 2.89 pLI from his third of an inning of work.

Kelly earned the loss for today’s game with an absolutely atrocious effort, giving up two earned after entering to start the eighth in a 4-4 tie.

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Top Play

With one out, two on in the top of the seventh and the Royals leading, 4-3, White Sox shortstop Elvis Andrus hit an RBI double to left to tie the game.

The two-bagger added .271 WPA for the White Sox.

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Top Performer

Andrus added .309 WPA for the White Sox in his four trips to the plate, totaling three RBIs with his two-run single in the top of the fourth.

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Smackdown

Luckiest hit: White Sox first baseman José Abreu hit a .100 xBA single in the top of the ninth.

Toughest out: White Sox center fielder Luis Robert barreled a .770 xBA line out to short in the top of the eighth, one of his two barrels in the game.

Hardest hit: Robert’s line out had a blistering 117.8 mph exit velocity.

Weakest contact: White Sox catcher Seby Zavala hit a 55.3 mph ground out in the top of the third.

Longest hit: Robert’s other barrel was his sixth-inning double, a 102.1 mph, .680 xBA ground-rule double.

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Magic Number: 10

Luis Robert is the 10th MLB player this season to hit into an out on a batted ball with at least a 117 mph exit velocity.

Giancarlo Stanton leads the league with seven outs on 117 mph batted balls.

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Glossary

Hard-hit is any ball off the bat at 95 mph or more
LI measures pressure per play
pLId 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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