Six Pack of Stats: Guardians 8, White Sox 2

The White Sox once again wave the white flag against the mediocre-at-best Guardians. I know many fans were looking forward to a pitchers’ duel, as Lance Lynn and Triston McKenzie had control of the mound, but we didn’t even get that.

So tell me, did anyone actually enjoy the ride this season?

Here are some stats behind tonight’s game just in case you’re still reading this. And if you are, thank you. You’re the real MVP.

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The Starters

Lance Lynn had a bad night, probably one of the worst I’ve witnessed. He labored quite a bit through longer innings, especially the first. While he lasted six innings, it was marred with a less-than-stellar final line. Lynn had 97 pitches, allowed seven hits, walked one, only fanned three, and was charged with four earned runs. His WPA wasn’t any better, coming in at -.030. Lynn quite simply couldn’t handle a team that hits.

Lynn’s 97-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Triston McKenzie's night and curveball were both outstanding. He made it through eight innings while keeping the White Sox to just two runs on six hits. McKenzie fanned 13 and only with a three-pitch arsenal. I think this kid is going places.

McKenzie’s 100-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

Lance Lynn’s first inning was especially rough, as he loaded up the bases with only one out. In this particular play, Oscar Gonzalez reached on fielder’s choice to third, Steven Kwan scored, and Amed Rosario was out at third. Josh Naylor advanced to third on an error. It was bad fundamental baseball from the start, so why shouldn’t it have an LI of 2.62?

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Pressure Cooker

Lance Lynn also faced the most pressure in this blowout, tallying up 0.83 pLI.

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Top Play

Andrés Giménez’s single to third in the first inning brought Josh Naylor home and advanced Oscar Gonzalez with two outs. His WPA (and really, all Cleveland would really need for a win) was .088.

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Top Performer

Triston McKenzie dazzled tonight in his eight innings. His WPA was .176.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Eloy Jiménez had a little fight in him tonight, as he launched a double at 108.9 mph in the seventh.

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Weakest contact: Somehow, Yasmani Grandal also got on base in the seventh with a single that trickled off the bat at 34.9 mph.

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Luckiest hit: Miles Straw’s second-inning single only had an xBA of .060.

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Toughest out: Yoán Moncada lined out in the eighth, preventing any sort of comeback. His xBA was .900.

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Longest hit: Yoán Moncada’s home run beat out all of the Guardians, traveling 430 feet.

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Magic Number: 94

This is my 94th coverage article this season. I’m being selfish and stealing the magic number because I’ve watched a lot of bad games so I can provide recaps and stats. Please clap.

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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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