Seranthony Dominguez got back into a meaningful late-inning spot on Thursday and made it count, retiring the side scoreless in the 12th inning for his first genuinely high-leverage assignment since blowing back-to-back saves last month. For the White Sox, it was a useful sign that a pitcher originally signed to be their closer may be starting to edge back toward the biggest moments.
That return did not come in isolation. The White Sox bullpen had already been pushed hard across a 24-hour span, with Trevor Richards handling a scoreless eighth on Wednesday, Grant Taylor delivering a season-high seven outs, and Jordan Hicks working a scoreless 12th in a win over the Yankees. On Thursday, Sean Newcomb covered two innings, Bryan Hudson pitched for the third time in four days, and Chris Murphy made his fifth appearance of a seven-day homestand before Dominguez was asked to finish the job.
Dominguez: “I can't be in the biggest situation” unless the job gets done
Earlier in the week, Dominguez was blunt about why his role had been scaled back after the struggles and blown saves that knocked him out of the White Sox’s most important spots. “If I'm not doing my job right now, I understand that I can't be in the biggest situation,” he said, while praising the way Grant Taylor and Sean Newcomb had helped cover those innings.
He also made clear that his recent spell had to be treated as a reset rather than a complaint. “Low-leverage situations, if you don't do your job, then you're not going to get good results,” Dominguez said, adding that he has been struggling but believes he can “come back and do my thing” if he feels good and comfortable.
That matters because the White Sox did not sign him in the winter to be eased into the margins. They brought him in to handle the end of games, and those expectations have not changed even if the usage has.
Why the White Sox are moving carefully
The logic from the dugout is easy to follow. Will Venable said the White Sox are seeing “the fastball in the zone, attacking right away,” and added that Dominguez is “getting getting closer and closer.”
Venable also acknowledged the one real mistake in the latest stretch, saying Dominguez was “ambushed by [Jake] Burger there with the home run,” but stressed that outside of that he has been “really good limiting the walks and just being aggressive in the zone with a fastball, good sweeper.”
That is the key point here. Dominguez’s stuff has not disappeared. What has been under scrutiny is whether the command can hold up well enough to trust him again when the game tightens, and that is still the only question that really matters.
A scoreless inning, and a small but important step
On Thursday, Dominguez answered that question in the most straightforward way possible: by getting the side down and leaving with the victory. It was not a season-changing moment, but it was the first sign in a while that the White Sox are willing to test him again when the pressure rises.
He has a 4.21 ERA, a 14.1 percent walk rate and a 27.8 percent strikeout rate across 37 1/3 innings, with six home runs allowed in nine appearances, and those numbers explain why the White Sox have been cautious. But the recent workload around him also shows why they may need him back sooner rather than later, especially over a homestand that has already asked so much of the bullpen.
For now, Dominguez has done the one thing he needed most: he has put himself back in the conversation for the high-leverage spots that were taken away after the back-to-back saves last month. The next few outings will tell the rest of the story.
