Chicago White Sox at Texas Rangers

The sheer bullpen dominance shown by the White Sox during a 4-2 victory over the Rangers Wednesday night at Globe Life Field actually took root hours before the first pitch was thrown in this series finale. “We are a tight-knit group out there at this point,” said left-hander Bryan Hudson, who earned his fourth save with a perfect ninth. “We are always bouncing stuff off each other in catch play before games, watching guys. We have a good group out there.” Good would be an understatement for the White Sox relief crew over the last 11 games. After Jordan Hicks, Grant Taylor and Hudson combined for four hitless innings against Texas (51-51), White Sox relievers have now allowed eight earned runs in their last 45 2/3 innings dating back to July 8. They struck out eight Wednesday, with five coming from the relief force that is Taylor, giving them 47 punchouts during this run. Opponents are 29-for-161 against them, which translates to a not-so-robust .180 average against. “You've got to be able to execute pitches and continue to pound the zone, and they did that,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Obviously, each one of them came out and did a great job.” “Bullpen’s been nails,” said White Sox starter Anthony Kay, who improved to 7-4 by allowing two runs over five innings. “When you can hand the ball off to guys like that, it’s a little bit easier.” Kay, who increased his single-season franchise record to 19 hit batsmen, certainly didn’t want to leave after 79 pitches. But Hicks now owns a career-best 11-game scoreless streak since being reinstated from the 15-day injured list on June 21, and even pitched around errors from catcher Edgar Quero and third baseman Miguel Vargas in the sixth.