RODON ON 10-DAY IL; MADRIGAL HURT
Madrigal, Encarnacion are latest hurting Sox after sixth straight win
White Sox rookie second baseman Nick Madrigal injured his left shoulder on a slide into third base Tuesday night. Designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion followed him to the trainer’s room shortly after with a sore left shoulder. Both players will be examined further when the Sox return to Chicago on Wednesday for two more games against the Brewers.
At the rate they’re going, the Sox might not have enough bodies to finish their push for a playoff spot in this abbreviated 60-game regular season — a push that has some early steam after Tuesday’s comefrom-behind 3-2 win stretched their winning streak to six.
Starter Lucas Giolito (1-1) pitched six strong innings, Eloy Jimenez hit a two-run homer to tie the game 2-2 in the sixth, Jose Abreu drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the seventh, and the bullpen stayed on a roll to preserve the win. Aaron Bummer, Jimmy Cordero and Alex Colome each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
But 11 games in, injuries continued to mount as Madrigal — probably making an unwise attempt to reach third from first on Luis Robert’s 106 mph single to center field — was thrown out by Avisail Garcia for the first out of the third inning.
Danny Mendick took over at second base for the Sox.
Encarnacion required attention from the training staff after he beat out an infield single in the fourth.
“It sucks seeing guys go down, definitely,” Giolito said. “But it’s not a thing where us as players, we’ll panic. We just have to let our guys get right. Our training staff is amazing, so they have to get in there and get right, and we keep chugging along. We have a lot of good help coming from Schaumburg as well.”
Madrigal’s and Encarnacion’s injuries came the same day that left-hander Carlos Rodon went on the 10-day injured list with a sore shoulder. The Sox lost another starting pitcher, Reynaldo Lopez, to the IL with shoulder inflammation on the third day of the season, and right-hander Jimmy Lambert with a strained right forearm on Monday. Lambert was transferred to the 45-day IL this week.
Shortstop Tim Anderson suffered a groin strain moving to his left while fielding a ground ball against the Royals on Friday.
Ben Gamel’s two-run homer in the fifth gave the Brewers the lead. The Sox tied it on Jimenez’s 430foot two-run homer against Brandon Woodruff in the sixth. Jimenez took the Sox team lead with his fourth homer of the season.
“Last year I tried to do too much
— this year it’s pretty much go out and enjoy,” Jimenez said. “That has helped me.” Abreu, who hit a two-run tying homer in the Sox’ 6-4 win against the Brewers on Monday, singled to left against Devin Williams with two outs in the seventh to put the Sox in front 3-2. Mendick, who reached second on shortstop Eric Sogard’s throwing error, scored from third after advancing on a wild pitch.
In his second straight good start after a poor opener, Giolito allowed four hits and three walks while striking out nine, recording strikeouts of Keston Hiura, Christian Yelich and Garcia in his last inning. Working almost exclusively again with a fastball and changeup, Giolito threw 103 pitches, 62 for strikes.
“I didn’t have the ‘A’ stuff going, especially with fastball command,” Giolito said. “Battled through it, and I ended up finishing strong there.
“We know if the game is close, we have a very good chance of winning it, no matter what.”