Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 3, Mariners 2

The Chicago White Sox took down the Seattle Mariners, 3-2, in tonight’s the T-Mobile Park series opener.

The White Sox move to 68-67, currently 1 ¹⁄₂ games behind the AL Central-leading Guardians (Cleveland is leading, but final score pending, at Kansas City). The Mariners lose their first game of September, and are now just a game ahead in the AL wild card race, with a 76-59 record.

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The Starters

Lance Lynn made his second consecutive start with seven innings and one or fewer earned runs, getting 25 total swings-and-misses with 11 strikeouts.

Lynn used a six-pitch arsenal in his 89-pitch performance, using his 4-seamer 39 times. He had 13 of his 25 whiffs with the fastball, along with six called strikes, for a 49% CSW rate. His curveball generated six whiffs on nine swings. Mariners hitters missed on nearly half of their swings against Lynn.

Here are the numbers for the 6´5´´ righty:

Baseball Savant

Southpaw Marco Gonzales made his 27th start of the season for the M’s. Gonzales went seven innings, giving up three earned from two home runs.

Gonzales used four different pitches in his quality start. He got eight called strikes with his 4-seamer, getting a 48% CSW rate with his fastball. Gonzales saw an uptick in velocity on his entire arsenal.

The former Gonzaga Bulldog’s start looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

With two on, two out in the bottom of the ninth and the White Sox leading 3-2, Mariners pinch-hitter Adam Frazier struck out swinging to end the game.

The at-bat had 8.14 LI, as the bottom of the ninth had the five highest-leverage plate appearances of the game.

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Pressure Cooker

Frazier ended the game during his only trip to the plate, finishing with an 8.14 pLI.

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Top Play

With one on, nobody out in the top of the third in a 1-1 tie, White Sox shortstop Elvis Andrus homered to put the away team up, 3-1.

His two-RBI barrel to right added .194 WPA for Chicago.

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Top Performer

Lynn added .275 WPA for the White Sox in his seven innings of one-run ball.

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Smackdown

Luckiest hit: Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez hit a .250 xBA single leading off the game for Seattle.

Toughest out: Seattle first baseman Carlos Santana lined a 103.9 mph, .750 xBA batted ball into the glove of Elvis Andrus.

Must’ve been the work of a Black Magic Woman.

Hardest hit: Mariners right fielder Mitch Haniger led off the ninth with a 107.5 mph ground ball single.

Weakest contact: Rodriguez hit his leadoff single 45.1 mph.

Longest hit: White Sox left fielder AJ Pollock broke a scoreless tie in the second with a 383-foot barrel to left.

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Magic Number: 25

Lance Lynn’s 25 whiffs nearly doubled opponent Marco Gonzales’ output (13).

Shohei Ohtani holds this year’s single-game record with 29 whiffs against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, on May 5.

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Glossary

Hard-hit is any ball off the bat at 95 mph or more
LI measures pressure per play
pLId 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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