If you watched the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, you would have seen a welcome sight. To close out the game, the White Sox brought in closer Liam Hendriks to seal the win.
Now his performances in the past have been shaky at best but Hendriks would be right on point in this game.
He managed to close the game out with three consecutive strikeouts to give the White Sox a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Guaranteed Rate Field. It was a win that the team desperately needed and may hopefully get them on the right track to win more games.
Hendriks, being the dramatic guy that the is, ended the game in a somewhat dramatic fashion. Not only did he strike out three batters to end the game but one of those batters was Mike Trout.
Hendriks didn’t let Trout get the best of him on Monday and got him out. That likely worked wonders for Hendriks’ confidence and helped get him back into a spot where he can do some damage as the Sox’ closer.
The Chicago White Sox needs Liam Hendriks to continue dominating 9th innings.
It’s too early to say that Hendriks is back to his old self but the Angels game was a perfect showing of what it’s like when he’s on point. Hendriks can be considered to be one of the best closers in the Majors at this time.
Hopefully, he’s starting to get back to the way he was last year when he made the All-Star game as a closer. It would be nice to have that “good old Liam” back and saving games for the Sox.
What they are crossing their fingers for is that Hendriks will continue to play as well as he did in this game from this point forward. His rocky start left some wondering what was wrong with him. But like the Sox as a whole, Hendriks was just in a slump.
It appears as if he is starting to get much better now. When the White Sox need a save, they should be able to call upon Hendriks and feel comfortable that he’s going to close the game out for them and not lose it. He’s starting to show his reliability once again and could be headed for another All-Star season with the White Sox.