Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 3, Royals 2 (nightcap)

After about a 45-minute break, the White Sox took the field to face the Royals for the second game of the doubleheader. With a little offense and fantastic pitching, the Sox pulled a win out to split the two games. Let’s break the numbers down, shall we?

The Starters

Davis Martin performed very well tonight, keeping the Royals to just three hits, one walk, and one earned run. He favored his fastball and recorded three strikeouts in 5 ²⁄₃ innings. The rookie kept the White Sox in the best position to win before handing the ball to Jake Diekman to face a lefty.

Martin’s 83-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Jonathan Heasley pitched 5 ¹⁄₃ innings and somehow struggled against the lackluster Sox offense. Heasley allowed the first K.C. walk of the series, as well as seven hits and two earned runs, one of which happened to be the first MLB home run for Lenyn Sosa.

Heasley’s 93-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

Liam Hendriks made the ninth inning a little uncomfortable. With one on and no outs, Hunter Dozier knocked the ball out to the left field, but thankfully Adam Engel was there to glove the ball and keep the Royals from tying the game. The LI for the at-bat was 3.45.

Pressure Cooker

Kyle Isbel was called in to pinch-run, and advanced twice due to Hendriks wild pitches. Eventually, he was stranded in the ninth and the White Sox pulled off a win. His pLI was a rather high 2.57.

Top Play

Yoán Moncada broke the tie and put the White Sox up for good with his sixth-inning home run. Thankfully, Gavin Sheets helped with another insurance run, but Moncada takes top honors. His WPA for the solo home run was .163.

Top Performer

Despite the loss, it was K.C.’s Vinnie Pasquantino who took game honors, with a .242 WPA. Among White Sox, Davis Martin was spectacular on the mound today and helped the team with a WPA of .194.

Smackdown

Hardest hit: Two line outs, two balls hit by White Sox players at 107.9 and 107.8 mph. Adam Engel technically wins this by 0.01% for his out in the seventh. AJ Pollock was right behind, with his line out in the first.

Weakest contact: Eloy Jiménez had a single in the sixth that came off the bat at just 80.2 mph.

Luckiest hit: Salvador Pérez was right after Jiménez for weakest contact at 81.3 mph. With that soft ball, he got to first with a .110 xBA.

Toughest out: While trying to go 3-for-3, Lenyn Sosa lined out in the seventh, and he deserved that third hit, with a .910 xBA.

Longest hit: Lenyn Sosa just barely beat Yoán Moncada’s 426-foot homer, but Sosa knocked the ball into the fountains, with the ball traveling at 428 feet.

Magic Number: 9

With tonight’s doubleheader split, the White Sox and Royals have split nine straight doubleheaders between them.

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