Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 6, Twins 4
Those South Siders, so hot right now
The White Sox have won a series! The Twins lose two in a row to hand the Sox their third win in a row. Both starting pitchers were mediocre, but George Santos and Keynan Middleton dazzled out of the bullpen. The defense was surprisingly good, especially with two straight outs at the plate. Then there was Billy Hamilton speeding around third for an insurance run. While the game was tense for a while, the vibes on the field and in the dugout were exceptional.
The Starters
Dylan Cease certainly has had better outings. I don’t think it’s time to have the regression talk just yet, but he’s had some rough starts already this season. Cease allowed four earned runs, on five hits and four walks, through five innings. However, he recorded six strikeouts. He relied heavily on the fastball and slider, but the curve looked good with three called strikes, four called strikes + whiffs in the 15 pitches he used it.
Cease’s 98-pitch outing looked like this:
Louie Varland didn’t look great, either. He only got through 4 2⁄3 innings and gave up seven hits, four earned runs, and two walks. Like Cease, Varland also struck out six with an excellent cutter.
Varland’s 87-pitch outing looked like this:
Pressure Play
The seventh inning was tense! With a tie game, bases loaded, and two outs, Gregory Santos got Trevor Larnach to strike out swinging. I think the entire fan base let out the biggest sigh of relief after coming out on the right end of a 4.83 LI play.
Pressure Cooker
Gregory Santos might have got the win, but not without some pressure from the Twins. He ended his night with a 2.86 pLI.
Top Play
The game was over by the bottom of the first thanks to Luis Robert Jr.’s three-run home run and .244 WPA.
Top Performer
The haters will be in shambles, but Luis Robert Jr. was the best tonight with a .155 WPA.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: Byron Buxton’s third-inning double flew off the bat at 110.2 mph.
Weakest contact: Byron Buxton tapped into a force out facing Gregory Santos, at just 54.3 mph.
Luckiest hit: Ryan Jeffers had a .300 xBA single off of Gregory Santos.
Toughest out: Carlos Correa smoked the ball in the first inning, with a .670 xBA, tying with Willi Castro in the eighth. Both lined out.
Longest hit: Luis Robert Jr. started off hot, with a three-run home run in the first that traveled sky-high at 420 feet.
Magic Number: .342
The bullpen has certainly benefited from the talents of Santos and Middleton And while Aaron Bummer left the mound with a big mess to clean up, the bullpen still had a combined .342 WPA.
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