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Six Pack of Stats (ALDS Game 3): White Sox 12, Astros 6

A five-run third inning helped give Chicago a win to force Game 4.

By Darrin Brown
With the game tied 6-6 heading into the bottom of the fourth, the White Sox plated three runs to take a 9-6 lead, keeping their win expectancy better than 80% the rest of the way.
FanGraphs

The Chicago White Sox picked up a win in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Houston Astros at Guaranteed Rate Field. Houston leads the best-of-five series, 2-1, and has another chance on Monday to clinch a fifth straight appearance in the ALCS, while the White Sox look to send the series to Houston for Game 5.

The Starters

Luis Garcia started for the Astros. Garcia went 2 2⁄3 innings, giving up five earned runs on five hits and three walks while striking out three batters.

Garcia used a five-pitch arsenal in his 66-pitch outing, with his 4-seam fastball making up 56% of his pitches. He saw the most CSW success with his curveball, generating a 50% CSW rate on his four curves. Garcia gained velocity on every one of his pitches except his cutter. All five of Garcia’s pitches gained spin. Garcia gained vertical break on all his pitches except his changeup, while none of his pitches gained horizontal break.

Baseball Savant

Dylan Cease started for the White Sox. Cease went 1 2⁄3 innings, giving up three earned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out two batters.

Cease used a three-pitch arsenal in his 44-pitch outing, with his 4-seam fastball making up half of his pitches. He saw the most CSW success with his knuckle curve, generating a called strike on one of his three knuckle curves. Cease gained more than 1.5 mph on both of his most-used pitches, while losing -0.1 mph on his knuckle curves. He only gained spin on his slider. Cease lost vertical break on all his pitches, while only gaining horizontal break on his 4-seam fastball.

Baseball Savant

Pressure Play

With two outs and runners on first and second in the top of the fourth, Astros third baseman Alex Bregman hit an RBI single to center field to tie the game, 6-6. The plate appearance had an LI of 2.10, narrowly beating Kyle Tucker’s 2.09 LI double in the top of the second for the game’s highest-pressure play.

Pressure Cooker

In a third of an inning of work, Astros reliever Yimi García had a 1.36 pLI, the most of any player in the game. García gave up four earned runs on four hits, including this three-run home run from White Sox left fielder Leury García.

Top Play

García’s home run gave the White Sox a 6-5 lead and added .313 WPA for Chicago. No other plate appearance added a WPA of as much as .200.

Top Performer

Despite the White Sox victory, the game’s total WPA leader was Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker. Tucker added .283 WPA for Houston with a 2-for-4 performance, recording four RBIs and scoring twice.

Smackdown

Luckiest hit: In a three-run bottom of the fourth, the White Sox saw two singles with an xBA of .060, one from shortstop Tim Anderson and the other from designated hitter Gavin Sheets. No other base hit on the night had a lower xBA.

Toughest out: In the top of the fifth inning, Astros shortstop Carlos Correa lined out on a batted ball with a .600 xBA.

Hardest hit: With runners on the corners, White Sox first baseman José Abreu singled up the middle to give the White Sox a 7-6 lead. The ball was hit 109.0 mph, the hardest-hit ball of the night.

Weakest contact: The next batter following Abreu in the fourth, White Sox left fielder Eloy Jiménez, had the game’s softest-hit ball for an infield single, poking a 59.9 mph ground ball to third base and beating out Bregman’s throw.

Longest hit: Leury García’s home run traveled 436 feet, not only the longest hit of this game, but the longest of Leury’s career.

Magic Number: 2

The White Sox need two more wins against the Astros to reach their first ALCS since 2005. Game four starts at 2:37 p.m. tomorrow in Chicago.

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

Poll

Who was the White Sox MVP in the 12-6 win against the Astros?

This poll is closed

  • 72%
    Leury García: 2-for-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR, 2 K, .265 WPA
    (45 votes)
  • 4%
    Yasmani Grandal: 1-for-3, R, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, K, .228 WPA
    (3 votes)
  • 12%
    Ryan Tepera: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 K, .097 WPA
    (8 votes)
  • 9%
    Aaron Bummer: 1 2⁄3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 K, .085 WPA
    (6 votes)
62 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the White Sox Cold Cat in the 12-6 win against the Astros?

This poll is closed

  • 94%
    Dylan Cease: 1.2 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K, -.247 WPA
    (54 votes)
  • 5%
    Michael Kopech: 2.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, BB, 5 K, -.153 WPA
    (3 votes)
  • 0%
    Yoán Moncada: 2-for-5, 2 R, K, -.051 WPA
    (0 votes)
57 votes total Vote Now

South Side Sox Roll Call

Holy hell, we almost hit quadruple-figures for the first time in SSS history. At 907 comments, this still might have been a record. And topping it all on a record-setting day was our guy, Trooper Galactus, with 132.


We were all so busy commenting, there wasn’t a lot of recs doled out. However, with five and the deepest green, was packpowerfan (it’s N.C. State, people, not that other pack!). It’s a sentiment we are all feeling as we look toward Game 4 in [checks watch] mere minutes:

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