Six Pack of Stats: Tigers 5, White Sox 3

The White Sox are really not having a great week against the AL Central. They drop the series opener against the Tigers, and end up losing their fourth game in a row in front of their home crowd. After Cleveland came to town, effectively ending their postseason hopes and dreams, a proud ballclub would be able to bounce back. Instead, you will get a four-game losing streak, and you will like it!

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The Starters

Lucas Giolito got the start tonight against Detroit, struggling right out of the gate, giving up two runs on two hits in the first before Jonathon Schoop took him deep a couple of innings later. Giolito relied most heavily on his fastball tonight, throwing it 54% of the time; however, his changeup was his most effective pitch, missing the bat 10 of 18 times it was swung at, resulting in a 52% CSW. Not bad at all! Gio ended up having a decent start, walking one batter, and striking out nine. He ultimately gave up three runs on six hits and his ERA now sits at a 5.05.

His 90-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Eduardo Rodríguez had a relatively similar outing to Lucas, except he wasn’t missing quite as many bats. He threw his fastball and sinker the same amount of times, producing nearly the exact same results (23% CSW) on both pitches. He went on to give up eight hits, a walk, three runs, and struck out three South Siders in the process.

His 85 pitches look like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

Andrew Chafin got into a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the eighth but ended up striking out Romy González to end the inning — who was batting as a result of a last-minute pinch-hit double-switch. The LI on the play was 6.03 — mercy.

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Pressure Cooker

The Pressure Play is a two-for-one! Andrew Chafin and a pinch-hitting Romy González faced the most pressure at a 6.03 pLI.

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Top Play

The White Sox had trailed the Tigers since the third batter of the game, but AJ Pollock’s game-tying, two-run shot off of Eduardo Rodríguez in the sixth was the top play at a .268 WPA.

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Top Performer

Thanks to his clutch homer, AJ Pollock was also the top performer today. He had a WPA of .227.

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Smackdown

Hardest Hit: Spencer Torkelson’s eighth inning RBI double left the bat at 107.7 mph.

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Weakest Contact: Elvis Andrus grounded out in the seventh inning, to the tune of just 46.6 mph.

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Luckiest Hit: Josh Harrison had a base hit in the fourth that had an xBA of .050.

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Toughest Out: Yasmani Grandal lined out in the second inning and had an xBA of .470.

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Longest Hit: AJ Pollock once again! His home run traveled 388 feet.

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Magic Number: 1

After a horrid week against their division opponents, the White Sox remain just one game above .500. What a week it’s been!!

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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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