Six Pack of Stats: Twins 8, White Sox 4

Sep 29, 2022 - 3:47 AM

The White Sox and Twins are back for the second game in this series in Minnesota. The White Sox started off hot, but quickly fizzled. The players once again looked miserable, as their losing streak presses on. I’d compare watching this team find ways to lose to getting a root canal, but at least my dentist lets me watch whatever I want on Netflix during procedures.

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The Starters

Johnny Cueto certainly has had better starts, even just this season. He didn’t have the magic tonight, but still gave the White Sox a chance to stay in the game. Unfortunately, Cueto found his way into a few jams and ultimately gave up 10 hits, a walk, and six runs in 5 ²⁄₃ innings. He did, however, strike out seven, but his myriad of pitch types and tricks up his sleeve was not enough to keep the White Sox ahead for very long.

Cueto’s 83-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Josh Winder’s night was nothing special. He allowed six hits and three earned runs while fanning six in 4 ²⁄₃ innings. Winder primarily threw a fastball and slider, but didn’t have a lot of success overall.

Winder’s 91-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

The double play that truly frustrated every White Sox fan — Eloy Jiménez grounded into a 6-4-3 with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh — had a 4.72 LI.

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Pressure Cooker

The aforementioned play applies here as well. Eloy Jiménez’s pLI was 2.27 after being unable to drive in runs when the White Sox needed him the most.

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Top Play

Matt Wallner’s double to right in the second stole the lead from the White Sox, as Jake Cave and Gio Urshela crossed the plate. The WPA for the RBI double was .136.

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Top Performer

Jake Cave eked out a win for the best of the game with three hits, two runs, a walk, and an RBI. His WPA was .24.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit: José Abreu’s double in the third flew off the bat at 111.2 mph.

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Weakest contact: Matt Wallner’s bloop single in the fourth barely came off the bat at 39.8 mph.

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Luckiest hit: As mentioned just above this, Wallner’s single was a big surprise, with an xBA of just .230.

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Toughest out: Josh Harrison’s sac fly in the second did bring one in, but a base hit would’ve been way cooler. The out had an xBA of .780.

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Longest hit: José Miranda’s off-the-wall double in the seventh flew 389 feet.

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Magic Number: 8

Not that it matters at all anymore, but the Sox have lost eight straight. Fun!

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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

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