After a six-run top of the ninth to tie the game, Cleveland capitalized in extras with a career night from Josh Naylor
The Cleveland Guardians picked up their 15th win of the season after defeating the Chicago White Sox 12-9 in 11 innings. The Guardians move to 15-14 and are now three games back of the AL Central-leading Twins. The White Sox move to 14-14, three and a half games out of first place.
The Starters
Zach Plesac started for the Guardians, going 6 1⁄3 innings, and giving up four earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four batters.
Plesac used a four-pitch arsenal in his 99-pitch outing. He threw his top-three pitches 91 times. Plesac saw the most CSW success with his slider, generating a 39% CSW rate. While losing an inch of the vertical break on the pitch, he gained 25 rpm of spin and an inch of horizontal break.
Plesac gained velocity on all four pitches and saw a spin rate increase on his 4-seamer and slider.
Plesac’s 99 pitch outing looked like this:
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23449807/Screenshot_2022_05_09_220749.png)
Baseball Savant
Michael Kopech started for the White Sox and went six scoreless innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out seven batters.
Kopech used a three-pitch arsenal in his 91-pitch outing. He used his 4-seamer 55 times, good for 60% of his pitches. Kopech saw the most CSW success with his 4-seamer, generating a 38% CSW rate. He also gained spin and vertical breaks on the pitch.
Kopech’s 91 pitch outing looked like this:
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23449819/Screenshot_2022_05_09_221736.png)
Baseball Savant
Pressure Play
Two plays had a game-high LI of 6.38.
With two outs and the bases loaded in an 8-8 tie game in the bottom of the ninth, White Sox right fielder Adam Engel grounded out to third.
With two outs and the bases loaded in a 9-9 tie game in the bottom of the tenth, White Sox first baseman José Abreu grounded into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.
Pressure Cooker
Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase amassed a pLI of 4.84 after pitching the bottom of the tenth.
Top Play
With two out and two on in the top of the 11th and the game tied 9-9, Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor gave Cleveland a three-run lead with his second home run of the game. The homer added .599 WPA for the Guardians, the most of any plate appearance.
Top Performer
Naylor went 3-for-5 with two home runs while matching the White Sox with eight RBIs. His .983 WPA on the night was .700 higher than the next-best WPA output.
Smackdown
Luckiest hit: Naylor’s (only non-home run) base hit had the lowest xBA of any hit during the game. His RBI double in the top of the eighth had a .130 xBA.
Toughest out: Jose Abreu’s 103.7 mph barrel fly out in the bottom of the fifth had an xBA of .800. The out was one of two-barrel outs in the game, the other being a Jose Ramirez fly out in the top of the sixth (.700 xBA).
Hardest hit: Naylor’s game-tying grand slam in the top of the ninth had an exit velocity of 110.1 mph, the hardest-hit ball of the game.
Weakest contact: Leury Garcia’s sac bunt in the bottom of the 10th had an exit velocity of 24.2 mph.
Longest hit: Naylor’s grand slam went 421 feet, the furthest of any batted ball of the game.
Magic Number: 8
Naylor’s eight RBI are a new career-high for the Guardians first baseman. He is the second MLB player in five days to have an eight-RBI game after Brewers hitter Rowdy Tellez plated eight runs on Thursday against the Reds.
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