Six Pack of Stats: Guardians 8, White Sox 4
The 20th series loss of the season
The White Sox were in this one for two innings. But Steven Kwan’s leadoff home run in the third put Cleveland ahead for good, and Justin Anderson arriving to stem the scoring simply added fuel to the fire. By the time the first third of the game was over, the Guardians led, 5-1, and they’d make it 7-1 mid-game before the Sox woke up enough to make the final score less stinging.
Top Play
The one is actually a tie, with two Cleveland plays with the same 11.9% WPA. The fun one, was Kwan’s leadoff homer in the third. The other was Josh Naylor’s single to start the scoring in the game in the bottom of the first, which Tommy Pham booted out in right field.
Top Performer
Both hitters above finished 1-2 here, with Josh Naylor clocking in at 19.3% WPA and Kwan 16.4%.
Hardest Hit
Lenyn Sosa’s home run might have come in the garbage time of an 8-3 game, but it also gave him a multi-hit game streak longer than any White Sox player since José Abreu. It also was crushed at 110.7 mph.
Weakest Contact
For two straight games now, the White Sox hitter with the biggest mash also had the daintiest dink; Sosa’s nub back to the pitcher in the seventh inning traveled at just 24.7 mph.
Luckiest Hit
Eloy Jiménez ground a single back through the box in the second inning, crushed at 101.0 mph but a ball Statcast felt was very playable, with a .150 xBA.
Toughest Out
José Ramírez finally got a bad break against the White Sox, drilling a ground out 108.9 mph to second base with two on and two outs. That puppy had a .720 xBA.
Longest Hit
Super Lenyn mashed his homer 398 feet, a homer in all 30 ballparks.
Futility Watch
White Sox 2024 Record 25-64, worst 89-game start in White Sox history (3 1⁄2 games ahead of the next-worst, 1948 White Sox) and tied for 21st-worst start all-time
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -161 tied for 52nd-worst 89-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 46-116 (.281)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 3 games behind
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) 5 games behind
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 10 games ahead
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 6 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 9 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season
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