No closer, no problem? Just two games in, Rick Renteria has already seen his plan for White Sox bullpen work

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This is how Rick Renteria wants to use his White Sox bullpen.

The South Siders departed the desert without a closer. Or with multiple closers. To believers of the old baseball maxim, perhaps the scenarios were one in the same.

Renteria voiced during camp that he hoped to mix and match his late-inning relievers based on matchups, putting different guys in high-leverage situations depending on who was coming up to bat. It meant no assigned roles at the back end of the bullpen.

Some fans and observers might have met that plan with skepticism. Some still might not be in love with it. But it worked to great effect in just the second game of the season.

If you think Nate Jones is the White Sox best relief pitcher, well, you saw him in the highest-leverage situation in the team’s 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday. Immediately after Welington Castillo’s double gave the White Sox the lead in the top of the eighth, Renteria called on Jones to hold that lead while facing the heart of the Kansas City order. He did just that, striking out Mike Moustakas and Lucas Duda before a single and a fly out to end the inning.

Joakim Soria, the other guy Renteria most frequently mentions when discussing the late innings, was then used in the ninth. He had a little bit more adventurous outing but got out of it without any damage, thanks in part to Alcides Escobar’s bad attempt at a sacrifice bunt.

Both Jones and Soria, according to Renteria, are capable of holding the title of closer. Saturday, they each completed an aspect of that job, with Soria recording the final three outs of the game and Jones recording possibly the three most difficult outs of the game.

It’s not a plan that will win universal acclaim, but for one night in March, Renteria got things to work out just how he envisioned them working when he formulated this plan in the spring.

“Yes, it is (how I envisioned seeing things play out),” Renteria said after Sunday’s game was postponed due to cold temperatures. “And you can see it in different cases where you might see Soria in the eighth as opposed to Jonesy in the eighth. And you might see Jonesy in the ninth. It just depends on how we view what's going to be happening in the lineup.”

Will this be a season-long thing? It’s hard to say, as so many different things could happen. A strong few months from Soria could make him a potential trade piece at the deadline. Perhaps Jones discovers the dominance he’s had in the past and emerges as a shut-down closer and separates from the veteran Soria. Maybe both struggle and it will be up to a replacement like Juan Minaya or Gregory Infante to pick up closing duties.

It’s a long season, but here at the outset, Renteria has already once seen his plan work the way he hoped.

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