Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 2, Rangers 1

In tonight’s game, the White Sox looked to steal a win away from the Rangers after a frustrating loss in the series opener. The Mustache was on the mound and the lineup looked halfway decent, with most of the core starters playing. Even Yasmani Grandal was able to end his slump. Despite some lousy offense AND defense from Tim Anderson, the White Sox still walked off the field with a close win.

Let’s break some of those numbers down.

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The Starters

Dylan Cease was lights-out even with a rough start and a fairly high pitch count. His command was off tonight, but that didn’t keep him from only allowing one run and two hits through six innings, while fanning five. Cease remains king of the sliders, but threw a great knuckle-curve as well.

Cease’s 91-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Glenn Otto’s night was not as successful as Cease’s, but overall, his performance was optimal. Otto fanned seven but allowed four hits (including a solo home run), and two earned runs — one of which came from Yasmani Grandal, of all people.

Otto’s 97-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

In what looked like a risky move for the White Sox, Kendall Graveman loaded up the bases with two outs and the game on the line. Leody Taveras was at-bat, and grounded to first for the final out in the eighth. The LI for the play was 7.96. Wowza.

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Pressure Cooker

Kendall Graveman certainly faced the most pressure in the eighth, escaping a bases-loaded jam. His pLI was one of the highest I’ve seen, at 4.33.

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Top Play

When I tell you I missed Eloy Jiménez, whew. The Big Baby continues to do big things. His solo home run kept the Sox in the lead for the rest of the game and had a WPA of .131.

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Top Performer

Dylan Cease’s successful night on the mound ultimately kept the White Sox in a good position to eke out a win. His WPA was 0.25.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: I have a feeling this will come up again, but Eloy Jiménez’s solo home run in the fourth was hit at 110.1 mph.

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Weakest contact: Adolis García’s first-inning single off of Dylan Cease was gently hit at just 71.5 mph.

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Luckiest hit: Bubba Thompson’s second-inning single that eclipsed the infield as he ran like Flash Gordon had a very low xBA, of .070.

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Toughest out: José Abreu’s line out in the fourth inning looked great in theory, with an xBA of .760.

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Longest hit: Remember earlier when I said Eloy would be back? Here is his solo home run once again, which traveled 437 feet.

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Magic Number: 100

Liam Hendriks recorded his 100th career save tonight.

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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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