Reynaldo López earns first career save on Opening Day originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The White Sox are going closer by committee until Liam Hendriks can return to the team.
The All-Star closer is currently receiving cancer treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Rick Hahn recently mentioned he's progressing well through treatment and was left off the 60-day injured list for a reason. The White Sox placed him on the 15-day injured list.
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Pedro Grifol & Co. have opted for a committee to handle the ninth-inning duties in Hendriks' place. First up out of the bullpen in the ninth on Thursday – Reynaldo López.
López by trade is a long middle reliever with a big arm and some interesting breaking stuff. Against the Houston Astros on Thursday, he showed what he's capable of doing in the ninth inning.
He pitched multiple 100 mph fastballs and some intriguing breaking balls via sliders and changeups. He did, however, let up a home run do Yordan Alvarez, which brought the Astros back within one run in the bottom of the ninth.
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He also walked Kyle Tucker and got into an arduous 10-pitch battle with Jose Abreu, his former teammate, which ended in a groundout. In the end, he struck out Yainer Diaz with a nasty slider to end the game, giving him his first save and Pedro Grifol's first career managerial win.
There were a lot of firsts on Thursday night and López got his in the ninth inning.
