A walk-off on bobblehead night!
The White Sox finally decided that the combined 25 runs in two games were enough for the Yankees. Dallas Keuchel’s brilliant performance shut the Yankees out through five, and Kendall Graveman continued the trend for two more. But the spirit of the corn came alive for Tim Anderson, as he got his third hit and scored the winning run thanks to Luis Robert’s walk-off.
The Starters
Dallas Keuchel pitched a gem. Yes, you read that correctly. Keuchel shut out the Yankees in the five innings he pitched and successfully maneuvered through jams. Perhaps he’s the kryptonite, but it was certainly an impressive night on the mound.
Keuchel’s 86-pitch outing looked like this:
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Baseball Savant
Jordan Montgomery had a good night, only keeping the Sox to two runs. With an array of pitches, Montgomery struck out four and only allowed six hits.
Montgomery’s 86-pitch outing looked like this:
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Baseball Savant
Pressure Play
In what could have been a huge momentum shift for the Yankees, Gleyber Torres struck out swinging with two on and two outs in the eighth inning. His LI for the strikeout was 5.17.
Pressure Cooker
Liam Hendriks was certainly under the most pressure, attempting a five-out save after Joe Kelly allowed a run in the eighth. Hendriks needed five outs, and the most he’s had to deal with this year had been four. Thankfully, he made it through, with a pLI of 4.11.
Top Play
Luis Robert singling to right to bring Tim Anderson home certainly saved the game and gave him a WPA of .301.
Top Performer
With his game-winning heroics, Luis Robert bests Dallas Keuchel for the top performer. His two RBIs gave the White Sox the boost they needed, especially in the bottom of the ninth. Robert’s WPA was 0.36.
Smackdown
Hardest hit Yoán Moncada’s home run flew off of the bat at 107.2 mph. Right behind Moncada was a line out from AJ Pollock at 107.1 mph.
Weakest contact Giancarlo Stanton’s eighth-inning single off Joe Kelly was lightly tapped, at just 68.7 mph.
Luckiest hit Giancarlo Stanton seemed to have some sort of luck tonight. His second-inning double only had an xBA of .040 after coming off the bat at 73.4 mph.
Toughest out Kyle Higashioka had an xBA of .860 in the third inning, but his hopes and dreams ended on a line out.
Longest hit Yoán Moncada’s home run traveled 424 feet before finally landing.
Magic Number: .500
Let us all relish this win for the evening, because the White Sox are 16-16 and sitting at .500 again, tied for second in the AL Central with the Guardians.
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