Six Pack of Stats: Guardians 3, White Sox 1

FanGraphs

The White Sox have still not swept a series this season. At this rate, even winning a series will not put this team back in contention, anyway, sorry Gavin. So, enjoy a win here and there when you can, and hunker down for the incoming fire sale and rebuild.

---

The Starters

Today’s game was Dylan Cease’s 10th appearance of the season. He was looking to follow up his last start against the Houston Astros on May 13, which was outstanding, with another good one to hand the South Siders their first series sweep of 2023. Cease was good, but Tim Anderson’s defense was not, and it led to a quick unraveling in the top of the seventh. The resulting two runs were all that the Guardians needed to win the game, 3-1.

Here are Cease’s pitch visuals from Baseball Theater:

Cease’s 91-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Logan Allen took the bump today for the Cleveland Guardians. The Guardians selected Allen in Round 2 of the 2020 MLB Draft, and he is currently the No. 8 prospect in their system. The 24-year-old lefty has performed relatively well since his call-up on April 23, going 1-1 with a 3.43 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 10.29 K/9, and .276 opponent batting average in 21 innings pitched heading into today’s contest. Typically, his most effective pitch is his low-80s changeup, which has a solid fade and sink and deceives both righthanders and lefthanders. All four pitches were effective today for the rookie and his performance was good enough to help the Guardians secure the W.

Here are Allen’s pitch visuals from Baseball Theater:

Allen’s 102-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

---

Pressure Play

Jake Marisnick couldn’t beat the pressure today -shocked- when he struck out looking with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the second. The play had a 3.00 LI.

---

Pressure Cooker

Marisnick’s strikeout in the second was the missed opportunity of the game for the Sox. And it pushed his pressure to the highest of the game, at 1.89 pLI.

---

Top Play

Gabriel Arias lined a double to right in the top of the seventh, advancing Will Brennan to third. The play had a .147 WPA and set up both players to score two batters later on Cam Gallagher’s single.

---

Top Performer

Gabriel Arias was the hero today for the Guardians. He hit a solo bomb to knot the game at one in the top of the fifth. He was 2-for-4 today and had a .233 WPA.

---

Smackdown

Hardest hit: Jake Burger scalded a single to left in the bottom of the second at 114.2 mph.

Weakest contact: Tim Anderson tapped a first-inning line out at 49.1 mph.

Luckiest hit: Andrés Giménez’s single in the top of the eighth had a .120 xBA.

Toughest out: Steven Kwan’s sharp line out at 90.1 mph in the top of the first had an .720 xBA.

Longest hit: Gabriel Arias’ solo bomb, the game’s only homer, takes the prize here. It landed 406 feet away, in right-center field.

---

Magic Number: 7

The South Siders continue to have problems with RISP. They were only 1-for-7 today and also had 7 LOB.

---

Glossary

CSW called strikes plus whiffs
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

---

---