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Six Pack of Stats: Guardians 4, White Sox 2

Shane Bieber won the battle with Johnny Cueto as Cleveland closed out their sweep of the South Siders

After Sox killer Steven Kwan’s RBI triple in the fifth, Cleveland held its win expectancy above 75% for the rest of the game.
FanGraphs

The Cleveland Guardians extended their AL Central lead to seven games as they took down the White Sox, 4-2, at Guaranteed Rate Field.

With the sweep, Cleveland moves to 83-67. The White Sox dip to 76-74, 6 12 games out of a wild card spot.


The Starters

Guardians ace Shane Bieber (W, 12-8) went 7 23 innings in his 29th start of the year, giving up two earned on seven hits, including a solo homer from Sox right fielder (sigh) Gavin Sheets.

Bieber struck out five in the win.

Bieber used a balanced, four-pitch arsenal in his 100-pitch outing. He got six called strikes from his cutter and 4-seamer, and generated six whiffs from his knuckle curve.

Here’s Not Justin’s breakdown:

Baseball Savant

Johnny Cueto (L, 7-9) went six innings while giving up three earned on eight hits and a walk.

Cueto used six different pitches in his 91-pitch outing, using his 4-seamer and cutter a combined 63% of the time. He had a 39% whiff rate on his fastball (38% CSW rate). He lost almost three mph on his slider and nearly two on his curveball.

Cueto’s start looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

With two on, one out in the third and the Guardians leading, 2-1, White Sox first baseman José Abreu grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The plate appearance had a 2.45 LI, with the bottom of the third having the game’s three highest-leverage plays.


Pressure Cooker

Guardians reliever Trevor Stephan earned a hold with one batter faced, striking out Abreu on a foul tip.

The plate appearance had 1.78 LI.


Top Play

Kwan’s RBI triple had .154 WPA, the only >.100 WPA play in the game.


Top Performer

Bieber led all players with .228 WPA.


Smackdown

Luckiest hit: Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez hit a .210 xBA single in the eighth.

Toughest out: White Sox center fielder AJ Pollock hit a .660 xBA line out in the sixth.

Hardest hit: Mississaugan Josh Naylor barreled a 111.2 mph double to right in the fifth.

Weakest contact: José Ramírez hit a 23.4 mph single in the first. Cleveland voodoo magic strikes again.

Longest hit: Sheets sent his homer 405 feet.


Magic Number: -5

With tonight’s loss, Chicago moves to 35-40 at home this year. Of the American League teams still in the postseason race, the White Sox are the only team with a losing record at home.


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


Poll

Who was the White Sox MVP in the 4-2 loss to the Guardians?

This poll is closed

  • 70%
    Gavin Sheets: 1-for-4, solo HR, .049 WPA
    (12 votes)
  • 5%
    Jake Diekman: 1.0 IP, K, .019 WPA
    (1 vote)
  • 11%
    Reynaldo López: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, .016 WPA
    (2 votes)
  • 11%
    Aaron Bummer: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, H, K, .014 WPA
    (2 votes)
17 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the White Sox Cold Cat in the 4-2 loss to the Guardians?

This poll is closed

  • 85%
    Andrew Vaughn: 0-for-4, K, -.087 WPA
    (17 votes)
  • 15%
    AJ Pollock: 0-for-3, -.064 WPA
    (3 votes)
20 votes total Vote Now