Six Pack of Stats: Guardians 10, White Sox 7 (11 innings)

The White Sox hosted the Guardians for a must-win series. This truly felt like a playoff game in September, as both teams are serious contenders for the American League Central.

OK, well, maybe one team is a serious contender for the AL Central; the White Sox didn’t have the power tonight, and Cleveland took a late lead in extras to push the South Siders down even further in the standings.

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The Starters

Dylan Cease had a rough start as he struggled with command, primarily with his fastball. His slider, however, mystified the Guardians. Cease had an unfavorable pitch count, but still only allowed one run. Once the nerves subsided, Cease was able to get into a rhythm, but alas, pitches piling up were ultimately his undoing. He walked three, fanned three, and allowed just four hits and one run. While he didn’t look great, it was still a quality start, with six innings pitched.

Cease’s 107-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Fresh off a stint on the injured list, Aaron Civale had a few good innings under his belt before getting into a jam in the fifth. While his pitch count was nowhere near as high as Cease’s, he maintained a similar stat line with four hits, two earned runs, one walk, and two strikeouts in five innings.

Civale’s 69-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

The White Sox gave Emmanuel Clase a run for his money in the bottom of the 10th. Elvis Andrus reached on a fielder’s choice while Seby Zavala and Leury García scored. The LI for the play was 5.66.

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Pressure Cooker

Clase, the best closer in the American League, wilted under a 4.01 pLI tonight.

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Top Play

José Abreu’s single in extras brought Andrus in, for a .423 WPA.

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Top Performer

José Abreu had an outstanding night despite the loss. With a run and an RBI, his WPA reached .471.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: AJ Pollock’s fifth-inning single came off of the bat at 108.4 mph.

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Weakest contact: Josh Naylor’s seventh-inning single off of Aaron Bummer was tapped at 77.6 mph.

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Luckiest hit: Andrés Giménez had luck on his side in the second. His triple only had an xBA of .060, no doubt aided by AJ Pollock’s jig down the left-field line.

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Toughest out: Seby Zavala’s third-inning ground out had potential and could’ve possibly saved the White Sox and my sanity, but the .620 xBA was not enough.

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Longest hit: AJ Pollock's very late, 11th inning home run traveled 432 feet.

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Magic Number: 50

Eloy made it a tie ballgame in the sixth as he drove in his run No. 50.

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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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