Six Pack of Stats: Tigers 7, White Sox 2

The Detroit Tigers defeated the Chicago White Sox, 7-2, at Guaranteed Rate Field. Detroit (59-92) looks for its 60th win of the year tomorrow while trying to close the sweep. Chicago (76-76) drops to .500, seven games back of an AL wild card spot.

The Starters

Drew Hutchison (W, 3-9) threw 77 pitches over five innings, allowing two earned on back-to-back homers.

Hutchison used a four-pitch arsenal in his start. He threw his 4-seamer 29 times, generating a 34% CSW rate with the pitch. Hutchison increased his spin rate on his entire arsenal.

Here’s the breakdown for the 32-year-old righty:

Baseball Savant

Davis Martin (L, 2-5) went six innings, giving up three earned on seven hits and a walk while striking out four.

Martin used a fastball-heavy, 93-pitch arsenal in the quality start. Despite losing almost a full mph on the pitch, Martin generated a 38% CSW rate with his slider. Like Hutchison, Martin gained spin on all four pitches.

Martin’s Statcast data looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

With two on, two out in the bottom of the fourth, White Sox shortstop Elvis Andrus hit into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

The play had 2.04 LI, the only play in the game with >2.00 LI.

Pressure Cooker

Tigers reliever Alex Lange (H, 19) totaled 1.15 pLI in pitching a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth.

Top Play

With one on, one out in the top of the first, Tigers second baseman Harold Castro homered to put Detroit ahead, 2-0.

The two-run shot added .175 WPA for the Tigers.

Top Performer

Castro totaled .299 WPA in his 3-for-5, three-RBI night.

Smackdown

Luckiest hit: Castro’s third RBI came from the game’s luckiest hit, a .060 xBA single to left.

Toughest out: Andrus hit a .640 xBA line out in the first.

Hardest hit: Tigers rookie Spencer Torkelson hit a 107.6 mph ground out in the fourth.

Weakest contact: Tigers left fielder Akil Baddoo singled on a 37.3 mph bunt in the seventh.

Longest hit: Eloy Jiménez and Gavin Sheets hit back-to-back homers in the fourth, with Sheets sending his 421 feet.

Magic Number: 7

At 35-42, make it seven more losses than wins at home this year for the South Siders.

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