ARLINGTON, Texas — Chicago White Sox catcher Kyle Teel prepared for a throw to home plate from right fielder Braden Montgomery in the second inning of Monday’s game against the Texas Rangers.
Teel got the ball, turned and attempted to tag a sliding Ezequiel Durán. The Rangers shortstop made it home safely. And there was more bad news for the Sox after the play when Teel exited with a left ankle injury.
“He’s going to be evaluated more, get it scanned in the morning, but it’s likely (the injured list),” manager Will Venable said after the game. “We’ve got to go get it scanned and get more information.”
The Sox haven’t decided who would be paired with Drew Romo to fill in if Teel lands on the injured list, Venable said. Edgar Quero is among the catchers at Triple-A Charlotte.
The team regrouped from the setback to defeat the Rangers 10-3 in front of 28,506 at Globe Life Field. The Sox took the lead on a three-run double by Andrew Benintendi in the fifth. They added five runs in the ninth.
The Sox trailed 2-0 after Durán scored on the second-inning single by Evan Carter.
Sam Antonacci singled and scored on a double by Miguel Vargas in the third to cut the deficit to 2-1. Antonacci drove in Tristan Peters with a single in the fifth to tie the score.
Munetaka Murakami walked and Vargas singled to load the bases. Colson Montgomery struck out, but Benintendi followed with a bases-clearing double.
“Just (looking for) something over the heart of the plate,” Benintendi said. “I feel like he was dotting on me all night, backdoor sliders down and away. Heaters up and away, right on the corner. Just (looking for) something closer to me and over the middle, and fortunately that slider leaked back over the middle.”
Venable called it a “really good at-bat” by Benintendi.
“Really, we got to that spot by just a ton of quality at-bats, even if we didn’t have a ton to show for it,” Venable said. “Antonacci really setting the tone. I think he might have had (17) pitches between his (first) two at-bats, and it just kind of wore on (Rangers starter Jacob) deGrom and his stuff ticked down as we continued to put good at-bats on him. And then obviously (Benintendi) with the big blow.”
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Vargas had an RBI double in the five-run ninth. With the win, the Sox (53-46) remained alone in first place in the American League Central, one game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians (53-48). They are a season-high seven games over .500.
“Just keep our head down, do what we do each day,” Colson Montgomery said. “Play hard, we get down, so what. We are going to trust the pitchers to keep us in the game and we are going to do whatever we can to drive the runs across.”
The Sox completed the game without Montgomery, who exited with a bruised right shin after fouling off a pitch in the seventh. The Sox said the shortstop is day to day.
“It feels pretty sore right now,” Montgomery said. “I’m not worried about it being a long-term thing. At the worst it’s probably a day, but I’m going to come in tomorrow and do whatever I can to be able to play.”
And now the Sox await a further update on Teel.
It has been a tough season of injuries for Teel, who suffered a right hamstring strain March 10 while playing for Italy during the World Baseball Classic. He had a setback while working his way back, spraining the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee May 16 during an injury rehab stint with Triple-A Charlotte when his front spike got caught as he was swinging.
He played his first game with the Sox on June 22. In 19 games, Teel is slashing .190/.271/.317 with two home runs and 14 RBIs.
“It’s really tough, as much passion as he has for the game, as hard as he works,” Venable said. “You feel bad for any of these guys when they go down, but Kyle, having to deal with so many things here and so many setbacks is really tough.”