Gregory Santos experiences the highs and lows of closing during the Chicago White Sox’s City Series split – The Denver Post

Gregory Santos has been the Chicago White Sox’s most effective reliever.

Recently moved into the closer role, he retired all five batters he faced on 16 pitches for the save in Tuesday’s 5-3 win against the Cubs in the City Series at Wrigley Field.

Santos again got the call in the ninth Wednesday.

“Things didn’t go my way,” he said through an interpreter.

Christopher Morel hit a walk-off, three-run homer as the Cubs beat the Sox 4-3 in front of 40,869.

“He’s been unbelievable for us all year long,” Sox first baseman Gavin Sheets said. “It’s certainly not on him at all. It’s the toughest part of being a closer. It’s not your fault, but sometimes it happens. It’s a tough loss.”

Before the game, Santos discussed embracing the opportunity to pitch in the ninth. He has progressed from non-leverage situations to trying to secure wins, and he entered Wednesday’s game with a 2.19 ERA and 53 strikeouts in his last 47 appearances.

“I wanted that role,” he said. “I had a conversation with (the coaches) and I told them, ‘I would like to be a closer.’ They asked me, ‘Do you have the guts to be that guy?’ I told them, ‘Yes, of course.’

“(Bullpen coach Curt Hasler) helped me a lot. The work I’ve been doing with them, since spring training they’ve been helping me to improve, especially my sinker, how to be more effective with that pitch. I’m very happy with the work I’ve been doing with them.”

Santos struck out three of the five batters he faced Tuesday on the way to his fourth save.

He didn’t retire a batter Wednesday.

Cody Bellinger began the ninth with a double. Santos then walked Dansby Swanson, bringing Morel to the plate.

Santos got two strikes and then threw a ball.

“I was ahead in the count and threw a good pitch — he didn’t swing at it,” Santos said. “It’s like, ‘Well, let’s attack him again.’ It was a sinker, and he hit it (for the home run).”

Santos said he learned that “I have to throw my slider.”

“That’s my best pitch,” he said. “I have men on base and I was trying to be fancy and that’s what happened.”

Mike Clevinger, who pitched seven scoreless innings, kept Santos’ full season in perspective

“He’s been shutdown for us every single game,” Clevinger said. “It happens.”

The Sox had chances to get a bigger cushion. Sheets hit a two-run homer in the fifth for a 3-0 lead. They loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth, but Michael Fulmer struck out Luis Robert Jr., Yoán Moncada and Andrew Vaughn.

Former Sox infielder Nick Madrigal homered against Aaron Bummer in the eighth to make it 3-1.

The Cubs completed the comeback in the ninth, handing the Sox what manager Pedro Grifol called the “toughest loss of the year.”

Grifol expressed confidence in Santos: “Anytime we’ve got Santos on the mound with a 3-1 lead in the ninth, I’m good.”

Grifol said the key in the ninth is to “throw pitches with conviction.”

“It’s a 100-mile-an-hour sinker that he had just gotten a strike with,” Grifol said. “He had thrown two sliders. He’ll tell you he has more confidence in his slider. But if he throws a well-executed sinker right there, the way his sinker moves the majority of the time, it’s a good pitch too.

“But pitchers have got to throw pitches with conviction. And if he felt that he had more conviction with his slider, then it’s a slider. I like both his pitches, so I’m not going to sit here and second-guess which pitch he threw. … In that type of environment, in that type of game, to get those last three outs you’ve got to be convicted in every single pitch.”

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