Six Pack of Stats: Guardians 4, White Sox 1 (Game 1)

Shane Bieber pitched a complete game for Cleveland, giving the South Siders their second-straight loss

The Cleveland Guardians defeated the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 in a make-up game from April. The Guardians move to 43-42, 3 ¹⁄₂ games behind the first-place Twins in the AL Central. The White Sox drop to 41-45, six games out of first.

The Starters

Davis Martin started for the White Sox after being called up from Triple-A Charlotte. He went six innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three.

Martin used a five-pitch arsenal in his 94-pitch outing. He used his 4-seamer 41 times. Martin saw the highest CSW rate on his slider (minimum five pitches), generating six whiffs and three called strikes for a 32% CSW rate. He gained spin on all five pitches.

Here’s Martin’s breakdown:

Baseball Savant

Shane Bieber took the mound for the Guardians, pitching his first complete game of the season. Bieber allowed one earned run on three hits while striking out seven.

Bieber used a five-pitch arsenal in his 95-pitch outing. He had an overall 37% CSW rate on the start from 24 called strikes and 11 whiffs. Bieber had the most CSW success with his knuckle curve (minimum five pitches), generating a 50% whiff rate with the pitch.

Bieber’s start looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

With two on and one out in the top of the seventh, White Sox right fielder Gavin Sheets grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The at-bat had a game-high 2.27 LI.

Pressure Cooker

Sheets garnered a 1.17 pLI from his three trips to the plate, going 0-for-3.

Top Play

With two out and two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the third, Guardians third baseman José Ramírez hit a two-RBI single that got through the right side of the infield to extend Cleveland’s lead to 3-0.

Ramírez’s 67th and 68th RBI of 2022 added .153 WPA for the Guardians.

Top Performer

Bieber added .341 WPA for the Guardians in his one-run complete game.

Smackdown

Luckiest hit: Guardians catcher Austin Hedges and White Sox first baseman José Abreu both hit a .060 xBA single.

Toughest out: After his four-RBI effort in yesterday’s game, Guardians right fielder Nolan Jones had two barrel outs in today’s game. His fly-out in the sixth inning had a .810 xBA.

Hardest hit: Ramírez’s two-RBI single was hit at 106.4 mph.

Weakest contact: Guardians designated hitter Franmil Reyes hit a 63 mph ground out to third to end the bottom of the third.

Longest hit: Jones’ other barrel fly-out was hit 367 feet.

Magic Number: 10

Shane Bieber is the 10th different pitcher to throw a complete game this season.

Marlins starter Sandy Alcántara and Astros starter Framber Valdez both lead the league with two complete games thrown.

Glossary

Hard-hit is any ball off the bat at 95 mph or more
LI measures pressure per play
pLId measures total pressure faced in-game
Whiff a swing-and-miss
WPA win probability added measures contributions to the win
xBA expected batting average