Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks made his return to the bump Monday night after being diagnosed with stage for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in December.
Applause rained down on Hendriks as the White Sox fans showed their appreciation when he made the trip to the bullpen after the fourth inning. The time finally came in the eighth as he entered a rocking Guaranteed Rate Field and another standing ovation including both dugouts. Angels catcher Matt Thaiss stood outside the box as Hendriks soaked in the love from everyone in attendance.
His return comes just under the six-month mark since his diagnosis, a miraculous comeback. The game that was played out was the least meaningful part of the night, as the fans and the organization, and the whole league showed their undying support to one of the staples of the MLB.
“It was humbling going out there and seeing the amount of people wearing my shirts, the amount of people having signs or flags or anything like that — the amount of people that were chanting when I came into the game,” Hendriks said after the game
The Australian gave up two runs, three hits, and a walk to the Los Angeles Angels in the 6-4 loss.
A lead-off single from Thaiss, who quickly stole second base and brought everyone back to reality a little bit. The situation got a little stickier after a groundout left Thaiss on third with one out. Hendricks went to work on the eighth hitter, Matt Walsh jumping to 0-2 swiftly. He then delivered a beautiful 96 mph fastball up and in that got a piece of the zone but was missed by the home plate umpire to prolong the at-bat, which materialized into a walk. Putting runners on the corners with one out.
The ball kept rolling, a great at-bat from Zach Neto resulted in a 3-2 sac fly, then a bloop double from Mickey Moniak brought up mighty Mike Trout. First pitch swinging was a soft liner that was just barely out of the reach of shortstop Tim Anderson and drove in another run. Hendriks got Shohei Ohtani to ground out to end the inning as an angry Liam Hendriks just finished his first inning since October third and as a cancer survivor. Although the slider control wasn’t there, the adrenaline was pumping and he was throwing heat.
“It was great being back out there. I felt good. I felt strong. I felt comfortable out there. Unfortunately, for me, I wasn’t able to get the 2-strike pitch where I wanted it,” Hendriks said “There were some positives from a purely baseball aspect, but there were definitely some things to work on. Get back, be available, and be ready to go tomorrow.”
It seems like the Liam Hendriks that we all know and admire is back again, even down getting caught on a hot mic after missing a pitch. An irate Hendriks walking off the mound was an oddly satisfying feeling. As if everything is back to normal now.
The way Hendriks is going to be used going forward is still up in the air, as he works his way back to regain his closing position.
“I’ll never be OK with mediocrity. I’ll never be OK with not being at the backend of the bullpen.” Hendriks stated. “But in saying that, I need to earn it. I don’t want handouts. I need to work.”
