Six Pack of Stats: Diamondbacks 10, White Sox 5

What is there to even say about the White Sox anymore? The Diamondbacks came to town and have curb-stomped the White Sox for two games now. Fans have given up, as a person in a “Fire La Russa” shirt helped hoist a banner saying “sell the team,” which was then paraded around the ballpark.

Chicago’s rookie pitcher/catcher combo imploded, Joe Kelly appears to once again have gotten injured, and despite the Diamondbacks not having a single home run tonight, they brought in 10 runs. Oh, and they have an outfield that seemed to know what they’re out there to do.

It’s embarrassing. Everyone on staff has failed this team, which has so much talent — but seem to be rotting away at the helm of their managers and trainers. There is no joy left in the team, so of course they’re playing poorly. Seeing José Abreu look defeated night after night, and Eloy Jiménez without a smile on his face, is downright depressing. Nothing will change until the interior rot is removed, and it’s so deep in the walls at this point that it will take an entire teardown of the house.

Don’t worry, it’s only August. The White Sox will get hot soon. Just wait until everyone is healthy! Oh, it’s almost September and the White Sox are on the precipice of getting swept by Arizona? Well, shit.

White Sox fandom is pain. Eat Arby’s.

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The Starters

Davis Martin struggled with the second inning, just as Johnny Cueto did last night. A lot of wild pitches, walks and a catcher interference occurred in the process of giving up five runs in the second alone. Martin surfaced for one more inning, but was replaced by Vince Velasquez in the fourth. Martin ended his night with four runs, four hits, four walks, and two strikeouts.

Martin’s 63-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Merrill Kelly came into the game with a pleasant ERA and a successful time over his last 10 starts. While he did allow three runs in the first on Gavin Sheets’ homer, Kelly kept the White Sox off the board for almost five innings after that. He allowed seven hits, walked only one, and fanned seven.

Kelly’s 99-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

The second inning is a great indication of where it all fell apart. Geraldo Perdomo singled to center, plating Daulton Vasho and Jake McCarthy, and advanced Carson Kelly to third. The LI for poor Davis Martin with that single was 2.97.

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Pressure Cooker

Davis Martin faced the most pressure; over his three innings pitched, he scored a 1.52 pLI.

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Top Play

According to FanGraphs, Gavin Sheets had the top play, with his first inning three-run home run. The WPA for the play was .252.

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Top Performer

All of the praise goes to Gavin Sheets tonight, as his WPA was .020, just beating Geraldo Perdomo’s .018.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Romy González’s eighth-inning double clocked at 109.6 mph.

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Weakest contact: Jake McCarthy singled in the ninth with the ball leaving the bat at 78.6 mph.

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Luckiest hit: Jake McCarthy’s fifth-inning single only had an xBA of .120.

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Toughest out: Eloy Jiménez was robbed of a run that could’ve tied the game in the eighth. The ball traveled 374 feet and looked out of the park. The xBA was .810.

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Longest hit: At least we can take solace in the fact that the lone home run came from the White Sox. Gavin Sheets launched the ball out at 405 feet.

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Magic Number: 52

The only joy I can bring to this Six Pack is that it’s Jim Thome’s birthday. He turned 52 today.

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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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