Back where he belongs: Hendriks pitches inning of relief in Sox's 6-4 loss to Angels
There was plenty of drama in Monday night's White Sox-Angels game at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Then, Liam Hendriks took the mound.
Talk about taking it up a notch.
“This is bigger than baseball, right?” manager Pedro Grifol said before the Sox lost to Los Angeles 6-4. “This is about life and the diagnosis and the comeback and how he did it. And how good he was prior to and how good he's going to be afterward. This is just bigger than the game itself.”
Already feted by the holiday crowd of 23,599 in an emotional pregame ceremony, Hendriks came out of the bullpen in the eighth inning to more rousing applause and made his first appearance since Oct. 3 of last season.
Angels catcher Matt Thaiss led off the eighth, but he didn't step into the batter's for nearly a minute as White Sox fans chanted “Liam! Liam!” and Hendriks turned in a complete circle acknowledging the crowd.
“It was definitely emotional,” Hendriks said. “There was a lot going on. It was nerve-racking going out, humbling going out there and seeing the amount of people wearing my shirts, the amount of people holding signs, flags or anything like that. The amount of people chanting, it was a very humbling and sobering moment for me.”
Hendriks had a rough return, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk while throwing 27 pitches in the eighth inning. Given his fierce determination and unflinching spirit, don't be surprised if the fiery Australian gets back to his all-star form sooner rather than later.
“It was great being back out there,” Hendriks said. “I felt good, I felt strong, I felt comfortable out there. Unfortunately for me, I just wasn't able to get the two-strike pitch where I wanted it. There are some positives from a purely baseball aspect but there are definitely some things to work on.”
Given how far he's already come, you get the feeling everything is going to work out for Hendriks.
“It's truly a testament to his hard work and commitment the fact that we're even having this conversation in May,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “When we got the initial prognosis, I don't think anyone would have been shocked if the response to a Stage 4 lymphoma diagnosis was we weren't going to see the guy pitch this year.
“Or, if we initially announced he's going to be gone until at least the all-star break, I don't think anyone would have batted an eye with that timeline. But Liam and his wife, Kristi, from the start were committed to getting back as quickly as humanly possible.”
The 34-year-old Hendriks began the season on the injured list to continue his treatment for Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which he publicly announced he was battling on Jan. 8.
“Initially, we thought it was relegated to just his neck and under his chin, so we thought maybe Stage 2 at the worst,” Kristi Hendriks said. “When they said Stage 4 and we looked at the PET scan and it was throughout his body, I was just in shell shock. When you hear Stage 4, I think it's one of the scariest things you'll ever go through.”
Not only did Hendriks go through it, the Sox all-star announced he was cancer free on April 20.
“It's kind of difficult to put into words,” White Sox reliever Garrett Crochet said. “I mean, a lot of us can't even fathom kind of what he was going through. But you know he came to the field with a smile every day and he's been working hard ever since. He never really took time off during spring training or anything like that. It's pretty unreal to witness.”
In the Sox's third straight loss, starting pitcher Michael Kopech was wild early, throwing 31 pitches in the first inning while giving up 4 runs on 2 hits and a walk. He also hit Angels star Shohei Ohtani with a pitch in the right shin.
Kopech settled down and had gave up 4 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10 over 4.1 innings.
Eloy Jimenez hit a solo home run and had an RBI single and Andrew Vaughn and Romy Gonzalez also hit solo homers.