Six Pack of Stats: Guardians 8, White Sox 4
Cleveland scored five runs in the first en route to a win in the series opener against the South Siders
The Cleveland Guardians defeated the Chicago White Sox, 8-4 in the series opener at Progressive Field. Cleveland moves to 42-42, four games behind the AL Central-leading Twins. The White Sox fall to 41-44, 5 1⁄2 games out of first.
The Starters
Lance Lynn went for the White Sox, putting in four innings and giving up eight earned runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out three.
Lynn used a six-pitch arsenal in his 100-pitch outing. He threw 43 4-seam fastballs, generating a 35% CSW rate. While gaining spin on five of his six pitches, Lynn lost velocity on his entire arsenal. Given his “fresh” arm having sat out with a knee injury for most of the season, that’s not the most promising sign.
Here’s Lynn’s breakdown:
Cal Quantrill started for the Guardians. Quantrill went six innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out three.
Quantrill used a five-pitch arsenal in his 93-pitch outing. He used his sinker 47 times. Quantrill saw the most CSW success with his sinker, generating five whiffs and two called strikes for a 30% CSW rate. He gained velocity on all five pitches, while losing vertical break on all five.
Quantrill’s start looked like this:
Pressure Play
With two on and one out in the top of the fourth, White Sox second baseman Leury García flied out to left to keep the Guardians ahead, 5-4.
The play had a game-high 2.59 LI.
Pressure Cooker
White Sox catcher Seby Zavala had a 1.56 pLI from the ninth spot in the order, and went 0-for-3 under the stress.
Top Play
With two out, two on in the top of the third, White Sox third baseman Yoán Moncada hit his fourth homer of the season to put the White Sox on the board, cutting Cleveland’s lead to 5-3.
The home run added .146 WPA for Chicago.
Top Performer
Guardians rookie Nolan Jones added .268 WPA. Jones went 2-for-3, batting in four runs and scoring twice. His two hits had the second- and third-most WPA of the game, adding .142 and .137 WPA for Cleveland.
Smackdown
Luckiest hit: Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan’s 63 mph eighth-inning double had a .080 xBA.
Toughest out: Guardians shortstop Amed Rosario hit a .880 xBA line out in the bottom of the fifth.
Hardest hit: Nolan Jones’ fifth-inning double was barreled at 110 mph. Lucky he didn’t get enough launch angle on that one.
Weakest contact: Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez hit a 59.8 mph ground out in the bottom of the sixth.
Longest hit: Moncada’s home run traveled 401 feet.
Magic Number: 3
Tonight was Yoán Moncada’s third straight game with multiple hard-hit balls.
His fifth-inning line out was hit 107.7 mph, and his homer was hit 102.7 mph.
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