Ivan Nova was excellent yet again, keeping the White Sox in the game late into the game while Jose Abreu paced the offense. Jimmy Cordero, Aaron Bummer, and Evan Marshall were solid out of the bullpen, and Alex Colome maintained his “bend, don’t break” stretch of late for the 6-4 series-opening victory.
W: Ivan Nova (9-9) | L: Kyle Gibson (11-6) | S: Alex Colome (24)
The Good
- Ryan Goins: 3-for-4, RBI
- Jose Abreu: 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI
- Ivan Nova: 5.1 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 9 Swinging Strikes
The Bad
- Jon Jay: 0-for-3, BB
- James McCann: 0-for-4, 2 K
- Leury Garcia: 0-for-5
Moment of the Game
There were a lot of important moments today: Goins’ throw to McCann in the 6th, or Jose’s moonshot in the 4th. However, no moment beat the completely “nuts” moment when a squirrel decided to join the action.
Stats On 35th: Let’s Break this one down By the Numbers
Tonight’s Numbers:
21.2/-10.5, 0.49, 0.970, 0.37, 0.208
21.2/-10.5
Today’s MVP and LVP, in terms of Win Probability Added (WPA) were Jose Abreu (21.2%) and Leury Garcia (-10.5%). Jose Abreu had the big blow of the game, putting the White Sox ahead for good with a three-run homer in the 4th inning. Leury Garcia, on the other hand, hit the ball hard all night, but had nothing but an 0-for-5 line to show for it.
0.49
With his incredible stretch of recent pitching performances, leading to a 0.49 ERA in his past five outings, Ivan Nova came into this game as one of four White Sox pitchers – and the only RHP – to have a five game stretch with an ERA under 0.50. While he looked shaky in the first inning, he settled down to lower his season ERA to 4.47.
0.970
The absolute bomb that Jose Abreu crushed in the 4th inning had an expected batting average (xBA) of 0.970. I’d love to see the 3% of balls that AREN’T hits with an exit velocity of 113 mph and a launch angle of 32 degrees!
0.37
Aaron Bummer’s incredible season has been no secret. His GB% is over 70% on the season – trailing only Zack Britton for highest in the league – and before today, he ranked 6th in the majors with 0.37 HR/9. This startling number made it even weirder to see Jorge Polanco put one into the seats with one out in the 7th inning. But, Bummer left with the lead, so all is well that ends well.
0.208
The White Sox were able to pull out a win today despite a combined expected batting average (xBA) on balls put in play of 0.208. The Twins, on the other hand, had an xBA of 0.383. Basically, the Sox made their hits count more than the Twins did.
The Game Ahead: ReyLo looks to Bounce Back
- Reynaldo Lopez (7-10, 5.29 ERA) vs. Michael Pineda (8-5, 4.20 ERA), 7:10 PM CT
Player of the Game
You know what to do – vote!
