Six Pack of Stats: Mariners 3, White Sox 0

The White Sox played a late-evening game against the Mariners after a dominating performance from Lance Lynn to open the series, and end Seattle’s seven-game win streak. Tonight, we had a real pitcher’s duel, with Johnny Cueto and Logan Gilbert. The White Sox were put to sleep by Gilbert and hope to eke out the rubber match tomorrow afternoon.

The Starters

Johnny Cueto had a good night despite the run charged (that shouldn’t have happened anyway). His command was decent, and he fanned three while only allowing four hits and two walks.

Cueto’s 96-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

If I had to pick one word to describe Logan Gilbert tonight, it would be: nasty. Gilbert allowed five hits but still fanned nine and kept the White Sox scoreless throughout the six innings he pitched. His command and velocity were perfection, and his fastball dominated the Sox all night.

Gilbert’s 101-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

AJ Pollock’s chance to save the game ended in tragedy. With two on and two out in the eighth, Pollock struck out swinging to strand runners. This was a common theme of the evening. The play had an LI of 4.17. Yikes.

Pressure Cooker

It’s no surprise that AJ Pollock faced the most pressure tonight. His pLI was 2.53.

Top Play

Cal Raleigh’s two-run home run in the eighth was truly the end of the game. Raleigh made it 3-0, and the play landed a WPA of .071.

Top Performer

Give it up for the Mariners’ pitching. Everyone had a good night, but Logan Gilbert kept the White Sox off the board for six innings, handing an easy shutout to his relievers. Gilbert’s WPA was .034.

Smackdown

Hardest hit: Yoán Moncada launched two hits tonight, but his first inning, welcome-back single was crushed, at 108.8 mph.

Weakest contact: Elvis Andrus’ third inning ground out was trickled out at just 48.5 mph. As far as hits go, Mitch Haniger had a single in the sixth that left the bat at just 65.5 mph.

Luckiest hit: Adam Engel’s seventh-inning single had an xBA of .290. It seemed like it could start a rally, but he made a silly jump trying to steal to second and was called out.

Toughest out: Adam Frazier’s line out in the eighth had an xBA of .900.

Longest hit: Eugenio Suárez just barely beat Cal Raleigh’s home run. Suárez’s fly out traveled 390 feet, while Raleigh’s only went 383.

Magic Number: 9

The White Sox left nine runners stranded this evening. Let that sink in.

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