Chicago White Sox: Saving the ponytail gang is always a luxury

The Chicago White Sox defeated the Los Angeles Angels by a final score of 9-3 on Tuesday night. That is a pretty comfortable margin of victory which is really nice. Winning is the key but they were also able to save their best bullpen arms for closer games later this week.

Lucas Giolito only went 4.0 innings because he was on an 80 pitch count after his injury which makes it even more impressive that they didn’t use their best bullpen arms. This is the most important time of the regular season for the bullpen so what we saw was very encouraging.

Mike Wright Jr., Jose Ruiz, Aaron Bummer, Ryan Burr, and Jace Fry didn’t give up a single run from innings 5-9 and helped the White Sox to their victory. Of those guys, Bummer is the only one who regularly comes into high-pressure situations. He will probably be available again tonight but being the only top guy used is really good for the pen.

They didn’t need to tap into “The Ponytail Gang” at all in this one which is very nice. Michael Kopech, Craig Kimbrel, and Liam Hendriks are the three most important relievers in the bullpen right now. They are all elite and they pitch in very different ways.

The Chicago White Sox needs their best bullpen arms ready to go for October.

All three of them were used heavily in the series over the weekend against the Boston Red Sox. With the day off on Monday, using none of them on Tuesday should have them all ready to go for Wednesday and beyond. We don’t know how the game will go but you can probably expect to see at least one of them in this game. You may see all three if the game is close.

Ryan Tepera was put on the injured list right before the game because of a cut on his index finger. They called up Jace Fry to replace him and he was very good in the ninth inning for the Sox in Tuesday night’s big win. On most nights, this bullpen is very good. Some people aren’t as confident in it as they should be but every team in the league would love to have this staff.

Yes, Craig Kimbrel has had some hiccups. The major ones, however, came against the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox. Those are the two most recent teams that Kimbrel has played for. They are also managed by Alex Cora and David Ross who might have the best managerial scouting report on Kimbrel in the league. The future Hall of Famer is going to be just fine.

Hopefully, the ponytail gang makes their presence felt in this Angels series because that would probably mean that it is very successful for the White Sox. With Dallas Keuchel and Reynaldo Lopez set to start these games, you never know what you are going to need.