3 Takeaways After White Sox' Bullpen Blows It, Allows Troubling Tigers Sweep

The Chicago White Sox were swept after a walk-off in extras against the Detroit Tigers due to some horrible relief pitching.

They will now head back to Rate Field on Monday night to face off against the Cleveland Guardians, who hold a 1.0 game lead at the top of the AL Central. It will be a monster series for the Sox, who are trying to assert themselves as a legitimate postseason threat.

Luisangel Acuña, Offense Comes Up Just Short

After a prolonged power slump, Luisangel Acuña finally came through in the best way. Down 1-0, Acuña blasted a two-run home run for his first since September, 2024. Acuña had been steadily improving over the last week-plus, and the results finally showed.

Over his last seven games, Acuña is now slashing .353/.353/.529 with four runs driven in. The speed was always there, but the power had obviously been lacking, especially for someone who dominated the winter league.

Tristan Peters also came in the clutch with a ground-rule double to make it 3-1 and the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 10th. However, the lead was lost.

The opposite can be said of Jacob Gonzalez. The young infielder is in a 0-for-24 slump and is making the decision much easier on who should be sent back down when Munetaka Murakami returns from injury. While he did make a nice play with the glove to send the game to extra innings, he gave it away by not stepping on the bag in the 10th.

Davis Martin Bounces Back, Bullpen Fails

After a disastrous nine-run outing against the New York Yankees, Davis Martin bounced back. In six innings, Martin gave up one run with four strikeouts. That lowered his ERA to 3.18. Martin frequently got himself out of jams, showing himself to still be the ace fans know he can be.

Nevertheless, Will Venable chose to yank him in the 6.0 inning despite only giving up 1 earned run on 77 pitches. Bryan Hudson did at least come in and throw a scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 2.27, continuing a breakout year. But then things went south.

Grant Taylor gave up a solo shot in the eighth inning, raising his ERA to 2.39, but rustiness was to be expected given the fact that he wasn't used for a week. Dominguez was quite rusty, too, blowing the save in the ninth inning.

Then, Will Venable made the strange decision to put Brandon Eisert in for the 10th inning, who proceeded to blow the game as the Tigers would walk it off. Overall, just a very bad day for the bullpen in what was a very winnable game for the Sox.

What To Expect Against Cleveland

This upcoming series will be a crucial one, as the White Sox fight for first place with the Guardians. Despite losing star third baseman Jose Ramirez, the Guardians are still hanging on to the division lead.

Anthony Kay, Sean Burke, and Erick Fedde will pitch in this series. While these guys have been shaky at times, they won't be the key to this series. The offense will be.

The situational hitting and offense overall have to drastically improve to beat this Guardians squad. Cleveland has one of the best pitching staffs in the game, and the White Sox will need to be on their A-game to win this series.

It's not dramatic to say that this series is the most important of the season thus far. So will they come through? We shall see!

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