Six Pack of Stats: Royals 6, White Sox 0
At least the White Sox can’t lose tomorrow.
The White Sox were unable to secure a series win against the Royals in the Sunday matinee game. For whatever reason, the White Sox continued to throw strikes to Salvador Pérez, giving the Royals an early lead. There was a balk, some truck and pig discourse, and a team that won’t come close to seeing the postseason shut out the division leaders.
The Starters
Dylan Cease got the start today. Despite the score, Cease was not bad, and maintained his composure after the dreaded three-run home run from Pérez. Cease relied heavily on his slider throughout five innings, and recorded nine strikeouts.
Cease’s 98-pitch outing looked like this:
Brady Singer was on the bump for the Royals this afternoon. Singer had a record of 3-9 with a 4.87 ERA in 23 starts coming into this game and managed to dismantle the White Sox with primarily two pitches — a sinker and slider.
Singer’s 106-pitch outing looked like this:
Pressure Play
Nicky Lopez set the stage by doubling to right field and advancing Whit Merrifield to third before Salvador Pérez cleared the bases. The double gave Lopez an LI of 1.38.
Pressure Cooker
With the game on the line, Brian Goodwin faced the most pressure in the ninth inning. Goodwin ended up taking a two-out walk. His pLI was 0.73.
Top Play
This should not come as a surprise, but the top play belongs to Salvador Pérez for his first-inning, three-run home run. His WPA was .119.
Top Performer
Brady Singer was the top performer, as he completely shut out the White Sox offense. Singer’s WPA was 0.26.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: Salvador Pérez’s first-inning, three-run home run came off the bat at 111.6 mph.
Weakest contact: Salvador Pérez also lightly tapped the ball at 34.6 mph, but still reached thanks to a Little League-style field error. This was directly after Nicky Lopez lobbed the ball at 35.6 mph and reached base on a fielder’s choice.
Luckiest hit: Brian Goodwin’s single in the seventh inning only had an xBA of .250.
Toughest out: Michael Taylor’s fly out to center field was caught with ease despite an xBA of .570.
Longest hit: Once again, Salvador Pérez had the longest hit, with the first-inning, three-run home run. The ball traveled 448 feet.
Magic Number: 2
With only six White Sox hits in this pathetic game, only one player had two hits: Leury García.
That’s all I’ve got. See you next week.
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
South Side Sox Roll Call
DuhSox worked a modest, 106-comment thread to advantage with an easy commenting win today.
| # | Commenter | # Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DuhSox | 32 |
| 2 | Trooper Galactus | 22 |
| 3 | steely3000 | 13 |
| 4 | Right Size Wrong Shape | 9 |
| 5 | AnoHito | 8 |
| 6 | baines03 | 5 |
| 7 | Ozziesox | 4 |
| 8 | Schoolly_D | 3 |
| 9 | NothinbutNets7 | 2 |
| 10 | Gutteridge70 | 2 |
| 11 | mattcoz | 2 |
| 12 | greenlight | 1 |
| 13 | steeplechased | 1 |
| 14 | Southside Boneman | 1 |
Recs have been hard to earn lately, so on this soft participation game, no green was to be expected:
| # Recs | Commenter | Comment Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DuhSox | I think we have been, so to speak. |
| 1 | Trooper Galactus | [no title] |
| 1 | Trooper Galactus | Kinda sad |
| 1 | Trooper Galactus | White Sox charities always were generous. |
| 1 | Trooper Galactus | [no title] |