The White Sox bullpen lost its leader when Roberto Hernandez was traded. The relievers, however, didn’t lose their wits.
“Why should we collapse?” Carlos Castillo asked. “They only traded one (reliever). He’s a great pitcher, don’t get me wrong. But we have other good pitchers.”
They are making their point.
While the White Sox entered Friday night’s game with a 2-5 record since Hernandez and starters Wilson Alvarez and Danny Darwin were traded to San Francisco, they would have had a winning record with just a little more offensive support.
Matt Karchner has somewhat supplanted Hernandez. The relievers secured the two leads they had in the seven games. They kept the Sox close in Thursday night’s 3-2 loss to Seattle as well as Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Oakland and the 5-2 loss at Anaheim.
“They have ability,” pitching coach Mike Pazik said. “They’ve kind of been doing that job all year. We’ve just had to move things around a little bit (now).”
In the first seven games without Hernandez, the Sox bullpen was 1-0 with two saves and a 1.77 earned-run average over 20 1/3 innings. Three of the five runs they allowed wouldn’t have scored if Alan Levine had started a double-play on a comebacker. He has been replaced by Bill Simas.
Left-handers Tony Castillo and Chuck McElroy are the only members of the current bullpen with more than two years experience. Along with the younger Castillo, they have been workhorses.
Carlos Castillo has allowed one run and two hits in 5 2/3 innings. McElroy has allowed one runs and one hit in 4 2/3 innings. Tony Castillo has allowed one run and six hits in four innings.
“You can see the maturity in Karchner and Simas,” Pazik said. “The two left-handers have really helped a lot. They are so versatile.”
