And just like that, the magic number drops to four.
The White Sox bounced back in their final game against the Rangers. A dynamic fourth inning put the good guys on top and Lucas & Co. prevented the Rangers from ever catching up. A smooth series win is just what the White Sox needed.
Smooth like butter pic.twitter.com/bYZCsde7jx
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) September 19, 2021
The Starters
Lucas Giolito got the start in a day game, and that’s usually a troubling sign. Thankfully, Giolito appeared to be having a good game, even after a long break in the fourth inning and some signs of an emptying tank in the fifth, but he persevered. He predominately threw a fastball, but his changeup yielded more called strikes and whiffs.
Giolito’s 97-pitch outing looked like this:
Jordan Lyles started this afternoon and had a great three innings under his belt. But all good things must come to an end, and the White Sox caused a lot of problems in the fourth inning — in the form of five runs, some walks, and loaded bases.
Lyles’ 80-pitch outing looked like this:
Pressure Play
With Leury García advanced to second on a wild pitch from Jordan Lyles in the fourth, the pressure was officially on for the Rangers. The LI for the play was 1.86.
Pressure Cooker
Jordan Lyles had a very tough fourth inning against the Sox, allowing five runs. That contributed to game pressure the highest of anyone, as he faced a pLI of 1.11.
Top Play
Yasmani Grandal’s beautiful fourth-inning home run put a big boost in the White Sox’s win chances, with a WPA of .121.
Top Performer
Lucas Giolito’s great performance on the mound landed him in the top spot today with a WPA of 0.18.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: The DJ Peters single in the fifth inning was the hardest hit, at 108.4 mph.
Weakest contact: Leury García’s fourth-inning single only left the bat at 33.9 mph.
Luckiest hit: The Rangers attempted to take advantage of a tired Giolito in the sixth inning, Willie Calhoun being one of the players to do so. His sixth-inning single only had an xBA of .090.
Toughest out: Zack Collins hit a ball in the sixth with an xBA of .880 that ended up as a line out.
Longest hit: Adolis García’s eighth-inning sac fly off Mike Wright traveled 406 feet.
Magic Number: 90
Michael Kopech recorded strikeout number 90 this season.
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
South Side Sox Roll Call
A modest, 163-comment gamethread nonetheless led to a big battle for the top spot. Nello Rubio won that one, with 31 comments.
# | Commenter | # Comments |
---|---|---|
1 | Nello Rubio | 31 |
2 | steely3000 | 28 |
3 | AnoHito | 26 |
4 | baines03 | 14 |
5 | Right Size Wrong Shape | 13 |
6 | Ozziesox | 10 |
7 | kinbote | 10 |
8 | Schoolly_D | 8 |
9 | ruffster | 6 |
10 | mrridgman | 5 |
11 | WIN05 | 5 |
12 | bangkokhoosier | 2 |
13 | Gutteridge70 | 2 |
14 | GrinnellSteve | 1 |
15 | SuperMetroid | 1 |
16 | greenlight | 1 |
Recs were few and far between, with not only no green today, but no comment receiving even two recs: