Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 8, Dodgers 4

FanGraphs

The White Sox reached win No. 30 in 2023 against the Dodgers in an impressive comeback, after the bullpen nearly flopped. Most of the defense still looked abysmal, but a few bats were hot tonight, especially one Jake Burger. Not only was his bat hot, but he ended the game by turning a double play.

A side note: While we do our best to not cover one of the starting pitchers, I will note that the White Sox starter in this game left in the fourth inning clutching his right arm. Per the team account, it was diagnosed as right bicep soreness, and a follow-up will be conducted on Thursday. He has had two rounds of Tommy John surgery, the last one just less than 18 months ago.

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The Starter

The White Sox got to Clayton Kershaw early in the game with two solo home runs, one belonging to Jake Burger (1-for-19 over his last five games). Kershaw battled through six innings with six hits, two earned runs, two walks, and just five strikeouts. He did leave with a 2.95 ERA, but the Dodgers bullpen destroyed his chance of walking away with a win.

Here’s the pitch breakdown:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

The South Siders had every opportunity to blow the game, especially when Austin Barnes reached on fielder’s choice to shortstop. Chris Taylor was able to score and Jason Heyward and Miguel Vargas advanced. Aaron Bummer was pitching, but Tim Anderson would ultimately own the 4.49 LI.

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Pressure Cooker

Aaron Bummer’s pLI topped that chart at 3.50 after he came in to clean up the mess Gregory Santos left.

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Top Play

Jake Burger’s two-run home run in the eighth started the much-needed rally with a .282 WPA by tying the game up.

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Top Performer

Jake Burger reached a whopper whopping .388 WPA for his multi-homer game.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: Nope, it wasn’t one of his two homers — Jake Burger reached on a fielder’s error after he smoked a ball at 111.9 mph.

Weakest contact: Jason Heyward’s second inning pop out was only 58.9 mph.

Luckiest hit: David Peralta’s single in the sixth inning from hell only had an .080 xBA.

Toughest out: Elvis Andrus was met with a questionable force out in the sixth, but the ball should have landed safely given its .650 xBA.

Longest hit: Jake Burger takes two of the top three (the second was Luis Robert Jr.’s home run at 390 feet) with a home run that would travel 393 feet. Burger’s home runs traveled 773 feet in total.

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Magic Number: 30

This is for Jake Burger, who had his first multi-homer game in his career, sitting at 15 home runs this season. Clayton Kershaw became the third Cy Young winner Burger has homered against after his first home run of the night.

But hey, he didn’t make the Opening Day roster. Hanser Alberto did.

Also, the White Sox have finally reached the 30-win mark. In mid-June.

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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

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