Good offense and even better defense led the South Siders to an afternoon win.
The Chicago White Sox jumped right back into the fire for the first game of today’s doubleheader against the New York Yankees. Tensions were high after yesterday’s drama between Tim Anderson and Josh Donaldson, so the South Siders went in ready to fight (arguably in more ways than one). Good offense and even better defense saw the White Sox leave the field with a 3-1 win over New York, and hopefully enough energy to back it up tonight.
In only his second outing with Chicago, Johnny Cueto started on the mound and stayed there for an impressively scoreless six innings. Allowing six hits, Cueto struck out five Yankees, largely favoring his sinker and slider.
Cueto’s 95-pitch outing looked like this:
Jameson Taillon was today’s starting pitcher for the Yankees. He stayed on the bump for seven innings, allowing one run and five hits while striking out seven South Siders. Taillon’s pitch velocity was a bit higher than his average, and he left the game with an ERA of 2.95.
Taillon’s 94-pitch outing looked like this:
In the face of a 4.26 pLI, New York’s Aaron Hicks was picked off in the seventh inning.
White Sox pitcher Joe Kelly faced the most pressure in today’s game, with a 3.17 pLI.
In the top of the ninth AJ Pollock smashed out a home run, giving the White Sox back their lead and being credited with a .350 WPA.
The above homer was enough to see our very own AJ Pollock as today’s MVP, running up an impressive WPA of .367.
Hardest Hit: Aaron Judge’s home run in the eighth inning flew off the bat at 111.1 mph.
Weakest Contact: In the third inning, Anthony Rizzo flied out to shortstop at a calm 59.1 mph.
Luckiest Hit: Jose Trevino’s single in the fifth inning had an xBA of just .070.
Toughest Out: Adam Engel’s third inning line out had an xBA of .610.
Longest Hit: Aaron Judge’s eighth inning home run was also the longest hit of the day, traveling an impressive 431 feet.
This was only Johnny Cueto’s second game with the South Siders, and he is making a name for himself fast. After today’s game, Cueto is now officially the first pitcher in White Sox history with six or more scoreless innings in each of his first two appearances with the team.
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
