Michael Kopech, Tim Anderson pave way for a Sunday Night Baseball win
Michael Kopech. Tim Anderson. The Chicago White Sox sweep the New York Yankees in today’s straight doubleheader and win the series — the second series lost for the Yanks this year (first at Yankee Stadium), and the South Siders are back better than .500, at 21-20.
Michael Kopech was absolutely brilliant this evening. In seven innings of work (the longest outing of his career, so far), Michael allowed only one hit — to none other than Rob Brantly — and walked two batters while striking out six.
His 92-pitch night looks like this:
Yeah, he’s going to continue to be so dominant and very fun to watch for years.
Luis Severino struggled to open almost every inning in tonight’s game, but he finished each frame strong. Through seven innings, he gave up eight hits and hit two batters for a total of 10 baserunners, who never touched home plate. He did strike out five.
His up-and-down, 94-pitch outing rolls out like this:
In a scoreless game, Leury García had runners on the corners in the eighth inning and lined out to shortstop (4.24 LI) on a swing that he should not be faulted for.
Jonathan Loáisiga (2.81 pLI) allowed the first four runs of the game. Yeah, Miguel Castro gave up the three-run blast to Tim Anderson, but by that time the game outcome was less in doubt.
Immediately following the pressure play, Andrew Vaughn tallied an RBI single (.253 WPA) to center to break open the scoring, 1-0.
Michael Kopech and Luis Severino split tonight’s top performer honors at .424 WPA apiece, and I’m going to throw out Andrew Vaughn’s .361 WPA and Tim Anderson’s .102 WPA as honorable mentions.
Hardest hit: To move José Abreu over to third base in the sixth inning, Yasmani Grandal rocketed a 106.1 mph ground out.
Weakest contact: Rob Brantly — you know, old friend and most unlikely person to break up a perfect game, but did — recorded a 55.3 mph ground out in the third.
Luckiest hit: Reese McGuire’s .030 xBA tap in the fifth was, in fact, a hit.
Toughest out: Leury García lasered a line drive to center field, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa came down with the catch, robbing Leury of some great contact on a .640 xBA batted ball.
Longest hit: García, having a decent game with not the best luck, also secured tonight’s longest hit baseball: a 381-foot fly out in the sixth (.530 xBA).
Tim Anderson has two game-changing home runs against the New York Yankees during the past two seasons.
TA said pic.twitter.com/NZOzqnNLLm
— MLB (@MLB) May 23, 2022
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
