Sam Antonacci's late heroics bailed the White Sox out on Monday night, but they shouldn't distract from Will Venable's continued reliance on Seranthony Dominguez in save situations.
If it wasn't for the ninth-inning heroics of rookie Sam Antonacci, things would be feeling a whole lot different for the Chicago White Sox right now.
It was a miserable road trip that ended with the White Sox being swept by the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. And Chicago had ample opportunity to win that series.
The first MLB home run of Junior Perez gave Chicago the lead in the sixth inning on Friday night, only for a softly hit two-run double in the bottom half of the inning to give the Tigers the lead right back.
Sunday afternoon was even more devastating. The White Sox got six innings of one-run baseball from Davis Martin, a big-time pitching performance when they needed it most, and the game went to the bottom of the eighth inning with Chicago leading 3-1. Dillon Dingler got Grant Taylor for a solo home run to cut the lead to 3-2, and he struck again in the bottom of the ninth with a game-tying RBI single off Seranthony Dominguez. Dominguez had two outs and nobody on base before surrendering three consecutive singles to blow the lead.
You could feel it coming from the moment Dominguez stepped on the mound, maybe even from the moment Will Venable pulled Davis Martin from the game at just 77 pitches. And sure enough, the White Sox went on to lose the game in extra innings.
That game on Sunday was plenty of reason for White Sox fans to begin questioning Venable and his bullpen management. Whether it's leaving a struggling starting pitcher out there too long until the game gets out of hand, pulling one early when he's cruising, leaning too heavily into handedness despite a number of players having reverse splits, or most prominently, deciding who comes out of the bullpen in high-leverage situations, there have been plenty of decisions Venable has made regarding the pitching staff that have raised eyebrows.
Sunday felt like the straw that broke the camel's back. Then history seemed to be repeating itself at Rate Field on Monday evening.
Will Venable Goes Back To Seranthony Dominguez
Entering Monday, seven of the next 13 games for the White Sox were set to be played against the Cleveland Guardians. That's currently Chicago's biggest competition in the AL Central race, making this week's series with Cleveland the biggest of the year thus far.
If the White Sox win the series, they retake first place in the division and erase a lot of the negative feelings from a rough road trip through New York and Detroit.
Anthony Kay stepped up to the challenge. He took the ball for the White Sox and delivered six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits while striking out eight. And Randal Grichuk's pinch-hit home run gave Chicago a 3-0 lead heading into the seventh. Once again, the bullpen made things difficult.
Grant Taylor allowed three hits, two walks, and three earned runs, and was unable to get out of the seventh inning before being replaced by Bryan Hudson. Hudson got Chicago through the eighth inning cleanly after the White Sox retook the lead on a Sam Antonacci RBI single. Then, once again, Venable trotted out Seranthony Dominguez for the ninth.
Dominguez recorded just one out and was charged with two earned runs, blowing both the save and the lead.
Thankfully, Antonacci came up clutch with a two-out, two-RBI base hit to walk off the Guardians and save the day for the White Sox. But just because Chicago won the game doesn't mean we shouldn't criticize the process that put them in that situation to begin with.
Now, you might not want to blame Venable. After all, what's he supposed to do? It's not like Grant Taylor has been sharp in either of the last two games. So whether it's Taylor or Dominguez in the ninth inning, it wouldn't really matter, right?
Wrong.
The Number Say It All
Taylor clearly didn't have his best command or stuff on Sunday afternoon, but some of that probably has to do with the fact that he went a full week without pitching. Will Venable didn't feel the need to use his best bullpen arm, and by the time Taylor finally got into a game, he was still knocking the rust off.
Yet even that is beside the point. The numbers don't lie, especially when you're talking about a sample size of nearly half an MLB season. And it's never been more apparent that Seranthony Dominguez can't handle the pressure of save situations right now.
Some people just aren't built for those moments under the bright lights. Grant Taylor, however, appears to be one of those people.
Dating back to May 10, Dominguez has been placed in seven save situations by the White Sox. He's allowed nine runs, eight earned, along with 12 hits and five walks over 6.1 innings in those appearances. He has blown three saves while posting an 11.37 ERA and a 2.79 WHIP. That's the man Will Venable keeps rolling out there with the game on the line.
Before he'd even blown the game on Monday, Dominguez had a 6.06 ERA in 18 save situations during the 2026 season. Now compare that to how he pitches in non-save situations, where he owns a 0.77 ERA and 0.69 WHIP over 12 appearances.
The writing is on the wall, especially when the opposite is true of Taylor. Coming into Monday, Taylor had a pedestrian 3.63 ERA in non-save situations. But in the eight save situations the White Sox have placed him in, Taylor owns a 0.87 ERA with 18 strikeouts and just one walk.
There is no doubt that the White Sox need more talent from a pitching standpoint. The onus will be on Chris Getz and the front office to add to this bullpen at the trade deadline should the White Sox stay in the race for another month. But in the meantime, it's Will Venable's job to put these players in a position to succeed.
Right now, with both Seranthony Dominguez and Grant Taylor, he's not doing that.
It's time to make the change permanently. Use Dominguez in low-leverage spots and turn to Taylor when the game is on the line.
