The White Sox bullpen was suppose to be a strength of the team heading into the season. It still might wind up being a strength, but as of now they have looked bad. Key guys have not been getting the job done in key situations. Sunday afternoon was a perfect encapsulation of the season to this point.

The White Sox offense had been struggling all day. Runners were being stranded and timely hits were nowhere to be found. The only run was via a RBI single from Luery Garcia.  Dylan Cease strung together a strong perforce before turning it over to Micheal Kopech in a 1-1 tie. Kopech one of the few members of the bullpen who has been consistently getting his job done, electrified the crowd.  Seven Royals hitters went up to the plate to face him and seven Royals hitters walked back to the dugout in disappointment. He bridged the gap from the fifth inning to the eight where Tony La Russa had two of the best relievers in baseball waiting in the pen.

With the score tied in the eighth inning Tony La Russa handed the ball to Aaron Bummer. The move made sense considering, Bummer is one of the White Sox best relief pitchers. He has limited opponents to a .507 OPS over the last two seasons, which is the lowest mark among MLB relievers. However, Bummer walked the leadoff man, who came around to score on an Andrew Benintendi single, wasting a great effort from Kopech and Cease. This is the second time this season walks have cost Bummer. On Opening Day against the Angels he walked the leadoff man and eventually allowed the Angels to take the lead.

The White Sox offense would get Bummer off the hook in the bottom half of the inning. Yermin Mercedes drew his third walk of the day to leadoff the inning. Then Adam Eaton played the role of unlikely hero. Tony La Russa pushed the right buttons opting to pinch hit Andrew Vaughn in favor of Eaton. Eaton rewarded the decision by roping a line drive just inside the foul pole and over the left field fence for a clutch fo ahead, two run homer. With a 3-2 lead heading into the ninth it seemed like the White Sox had the game locked up.

Adam Eaton wasted no time. PUT IT ON THE BOARD! pic.twitter.com/d17RXKopsC

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 11, 2021

Hendriks fails to deliver

Liam Hendriks trotted out of the bullpen in his home debut with the White Sox. The man who is getting paid 54 million dollars should have put the game away. Instead he served up a fastball over the heart of the plate and Carlos Santana made him pay. He launched it over the center field wall and tallied the first blown save of the season for Liam Hendriks. The home run was already the second allowed by Hendriks in just three appearances this season. The White Sox were lucky to make it out of the inning with the score tied as the closer struggled to get through the inning. He had to throw 28 pitches just to escape the inning.

Monster homerun from Carlos Santana in the 9th to tie it as the Royals took care of business in extra innings. #royals #whitesox #mlb #baseball #sports #GamblingTwitter pic.twitter.com/mWrPZW53eW

— LornaBets (@lorna_bets_) April 12, 2021

The Sox would go on to lose in extra innings when Garrett Crochet spiked a throw to the plate allowing the eventual winning run to score. It continued the trend of terrible fielding for the White Sox who had two errors on the day. In the bottom half of the innings the offense fell flat once again continuing their trend of stranding runners in scoring position.

While the White Sox can’t expect Hendriks to have a perfect 0.00 ERA this blown save stung. The White Sox were an abysmal 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position, yet had a chance to steal a ugly win from the Kansas City Royals. Those are the type of gutty wins that can help a team down the road. Unfortunately Hendriks was not up to the task which adds to the growing frustration of Sox fans, especially since he was the prized free agent acquisition of the offseason.

The bullpen cannot take all the blame. They are not responsible for the offense failing to support them. However for a unit that was so confident before the season, their early performance should serve as a wakeup call. They need to be better.