Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 2, Padres 1

Oct 3, 2022 - 12:31 AM

Sunday’s afternoon matchup found the Sox were hoping for a win to help them maintain a shred of dignity and inch one step closer to ending the season at .500. Meanwhile, the Padres were looking to clinch one of the NL wild card spots. Turns out, San Diego didn’t even need the W anyway, as the Miami Marlins beat the Milwaukee Brewers and the Padres earned their playoff berth.

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The Starters

Lance Lynn had the mound today for his final start of the season. Lynn had lost his previous two starts, but added another W to his record today. The Big Bastard was fierce on the bump, pitching seven solid innings while giving up only one run on five hits. It was refreshing to see Lynn finish up the season strong, leaving us some hope for his performance in 2023.

Lynn’s 93-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

Lefty Blake Snell was on the bump for San Diego. Snell has had a solid season for the Padres and was looking to even his record at 9-9. However, it didn’t happen today. He exited the game after pitching six innings, surrendering one run on three hits. I remember fondly when the South Siders used to mash left-handed pitching. Not this season, and not today.

Snell’s 103-pitch outing looked like this:

Baseball Savant

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Pressure Play

The pressure to clinch for the Padres was over, but with two on and two out in the ninth, Jorge Alfaro grounded into a force out to shortstop, with Trent Grisham out at second. Game over. The play had an LI of 6.47.

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Pressure Cooker

Jorge Alfaro with his pinch-hit plate appearance in the bottom of the ninth had the highest pLI, at 6.47.

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Top Play

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Juan Soto singled on a sharp ground ball to right field, moving José Azócarto third. The play had a WPA of .186.

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Top Performer

Lance Lynn was truly the Big Bastard today, in his last outing of the season, putting up a .311 WPA.

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Smackdown

Hardest hit:

In the top of the fourth, José Abreu smashed a single with an exit velocity of 108.5 mph.

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Weakest contact: Manny Machado popped one out to Carlos Pérez in the eighth inning at 64.6 mph.

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Luckiest hit: José Abreu’s single in the fourth may have been scorched, but it was lucky as well, with a .150 xBA.

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Toughest out: Carlos Pérez proved to be a tough out with his sixth-inning liner. The play had an xBA of .870.

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Longest hit: Ha-seong Kim’s line-drive home run in the seventh inning went 416 feet to left field.

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Magic Number: 0

The Padres clinched their spot in the playoffs today with the Marlins win over the Brewers. Sure is a disappointment that the Sox won’t be there this year.

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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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