In previewing the ALDS, I
wrote that the challenge for the Astros pitching staff was to “force
contact…more contact on the mound means fewer walks.”
Lance McCullers said “Challenge accepted.”
This afternoon at Minute Maid Park, Lance McCullers walked
no White Sox, and allowed only 4 singles and one hit batter while going 6 2/3
innings. It is tempting to look at that line and say that McCullers pitched
like an ace. But I look at his 4 strikeouts and 31% CSW (which is the
percentage of pitches that were Called Strikes or Whiff), and see a performance
that is not quite at ace level.
Instead,
I see a performance that was exactly what the Astros need to defeat the White
Sox this series.
Lance's performance today was not marked by swing-and-miss stuff. He got 9 whiffs on his 104 pitches; that's an 8.7% swinging strike rate, below his season long rate of 11.6%. As noted, he only struck out 4 batters.
What is was notable for was getting soft contact on balls on the ground. McCullers earned 11 of his 20 outs via groundout, including a double play off the bat of Yasmani Grandal in the 7th. The 19 batters who put balls in play against McCullers averaged a negative launch angle (-5.1) and an exit velocity of 83.4 miles per hour. Soft contact wins games, when you can get the other team to do it.
As noted, McCullers did not walk a batter. But that is not because he threw more strikes. He threw 59.6% of his pitches today for strikes, which is below his regular season rate of 61.3%. But he threw strikes when he needed to. As Ben Clemens of Fangraphs pointed out in his article on today's game, McCullers "threw a grand total of 12 pitches in three-ball counts...All 12 were in the strike zone. Clemens's conclusion: "He simply refused to give up a walk."
The Astros have one of the best defenses in the majors, McCullers allowed that defense to make plays today by limiting baserunners and hard contact. Of the 19 balls put in play by the White Sox, the Astros recorded outs on 14 of them. The soft contact induced by McCullers meant that the Astros defense was not challenged to make difficult plays.
In his postgame press conference, McCullers said "I’m much more of a pitcher now than I was in the past." That's a good assessment of McCullers' performance today
* * *
Winning postseason games are usually about doing the big things right. For example the team that hits more home runs during the season has an advantage because they usually hit more home runs in the playoffs. And just as the Astros hit more home runs during the regular season than the White Sox, they also hit more home runs today, as Yordan Alvarez hit one into the Astros bullpen.
But doing the little things can really help, as every play gets magnified in a short series. And one particular standout play was the slide by Jose Altuve to elude a tag by Yasmani Grandal and to score the Astros second run of the game.
And I can analyze why it's a great play, but it seems like a much better idea to show you how people reacted to it. And you can decide which reaction was best?
Was it "poetry in motion?"
Or chef's kiss.
Or one of the best slides?
Or perfect, and better in MLB's Field Vision 3D system?
Or worthy of hanging in the Louvre?
I'll let you decide what description you like best. It's an awesome slide.
And more awesome because White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal does not seem to be giving Altuve a lane to get to the plate. Altuve has to contort himself to avoid Grandal, which is no longer supposed to be the case after rules on plate blocking (and knocking over the catcher) were changed before the 2014 season.
So it's likely that Altuve would have been ruled safe regardless of the quality of his slide. But, getting that call right relies on a replay review from New York, and that's not something any of us want to rely on. And of course, Altuve's slide was definitely a much cooler way to score.
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