Six Pack of Stats: Reds 5, White Sox 3

FanGraphs

The White Sox lost tonight’s game, dropping the second of this three-game set against the Reds and leaving them with a 11-22 record on the season. It was a close game until it wasn’t — and TJ Friedl was to blame, with a home run and a triple to ultimately swing the pendulum in the Reds’ favor.

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The Starter

Reds starter Nick Lodolo struggled on the mound today, giving up three runs on six hits. He tried a little bit of everything when it came to his pitch mix, and nothing really seemed to work, as the lefty was hit hard during his short (3 2⁄3 inning) night, giving up two home runs. One, very surprisingly, was offered to Hanser Alberto, and another (slightly less surprisingy) to Seby Zavala. The Sox hitters were seeing Lodolo well, with only six whiffs off of him and 12 called strikes taken.

Lodolo’s 77-pitch night looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

T.J. Friedl hit a three-run blast to center to take the lead in the fifth, with a 2.76 LI.

Pressure Cooker

Alexis Díaz faced the most pressure on the night, at 1.62 pLI. He kept his cool in the ninth and got a relatively routine save despite giving up a hit, which ultimately was for naught after Andrew Vaughn grounded into a double play.

The most pressure faced by a White Sox player was Andrew Benintendi, with 1.58 pLI. Benintendi fared well, getting a double in the third that gave the Pale Hose the lead, but otherwise couldn’t get anything going on the night.

Top Play

The big moment tonight, by a long shot, was T.J. Friedl’s three-run home run, with a .321 WPA. The top play for the Sox was Benintendi’s RBI double with a .122 WPA.

Top Performer

To no one’s surprise, it’s T.J. Friedl with a .357 game WPA, fueled by that home run and an RBI triple that sealed the deal in the seventh.

Like last night, the White Sox top performer was Luis Robert Jr. who put up a measly (at least, compared to last night) .113 game WPA in a 2-for-2 hitting night.

Smackdown

Hardest hit: Funnily enough, the hardest hit was not even a hit despite a .490 xBA. The winner is a 106.9 mph ground out by Andrew Vaughn in the seventh.

Weakest contact: Henry Ramos had a 58.6 mph pop-out in the first.

Luckiest hit: Hanser Alberto’s second-inning home run had an insane xBA of .080. He’s lucky that was even a hit, let alone a dinger, and he’s even luckier he’s still on this team.

Toughest out: Elvis Andrus drilled a line drive in the fifth that happened to also be caught despite a .750 xBA.

Longest hit: A Luis Robert Jr. double and a Seby Zavala home run both went 388 feet, but only one of those scored a run, so only one of them really matters in the grand scheme of things.

Magic Number: 6

T.J. Friedl’s go-ahead home run was only a home run in six ballparks. Had this been a home game for the Sox the outcome may have been different, but sadly the Great American Ballpark had other plans.

Baseball Savant

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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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