Eloy Jiménez has dealt with a variety of injuries in his young career.
Some have occurred in the outfield, such as his torn pectoral tendon during spring training this year. Late last season, he was injured while running the bases.
The Chicago White Sox left fielder ran into bad luck while sitting on the bench during Tuesday’s series opener against the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum.
Jiménez suffered a bruised right knee when he got hit by a line drive while in the dugout in the third inning. X-rays were negative and Jiménez is day to day, the Sox said after the game.
“I was paying attention to the game, but I never expect a foul ball to come into my knee,” Jiménez said Wednesday. “It was crazy.
“It was scary, but as soon as I found it was a bone bruise, it was OK. I know I’ve been through a lot this year, but this is not going to stop me.”
He was out of the lineup Wednesday night.
“He’s got a significant bone bruise there,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said before Wednesday’s game. “The X-rays were negative, it’s just real sore. Do some exercises to loosen it up, but we’ll have to wait and see how he’s feeling (Thursday).
“He’s getting a lot of treatment (Wednesday). We’ve got a day game (Thursday), left-hander (Sean Manaea) pitching, so obviously if he’s not in the lineup it’s because we don’t think it’s smart to play him. He got smoked. Fingers crossed for (Thursday) — that’s a pretty quick turnaround. Kind of surprised if he plays (Thursday). Hopefully he can play Friday.”
Jiménez was on the bench when he got hit by Andrew Vaughn’s liner into the dugout. He immediately fell to the ground and received attention from the training staff.
Yoán Moncada was standing near Jiménez at the time.
“That one was really fast,” Moncada said Tuesday through an interpreter. “Unfortunately, the ball hit Eloy, but fortunately enough, it just hit him on the leg and it wasn’t in the upper body. That was a crazy and a scary moment … but fortunately enough, it wasn’t anything serious.”
Jiménez remained in the game, and in the fifth he singled and scored from second on a Gavin Sheets single. Jiménez slid in safely just ahead of the tag to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.
When the bottom of the fifth began, Jiménez’s day was through. Vaughn moved from right field to left, and Brian Goodwin entered to play right.
“Yeah, it was getting worse,” Jiménez said. “At the beginning, it was a little bit sore, but fifth inning, it started getting worse. But today, I’m feeling much better.”
La Russa said the slide didn’t have anything to do with the setback.
“It just takes a while for it to bark,” La Russa said. “He slid, he felt it, but it was a little sore already. Something sore, you hit it again and it hurts again. That thing was going to stiffen up more. That’s why sometimes you get a guy out right away, get some ice on it. At some point it’s going to get stiff.”
Jiménez missed most of the season because of the torn left pectoral tendon he suffered in a March 24 Cactus League game against the A’s while attempting to rob a batter of a home run. He returned to the Sox on July 26.
La Russa reiterated that the team’s sizable lead in the American League Central is not a factor when it comes to resting Jiménez, shortstop Tim Anderson or pitchers Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn and Carlos Rodón.
“We have just a game short of four weeks (left in the regular season) — that’s a lot of play, 20-something games,” La Russa said. “So the biggest mistake somebody could make is to think that some of the care we’re using now is because we’ve got a lead. We’re not comfortable with the lead.
“And we’re not pitching Gio and Lynn and Rodón. It has everything to do with them being sore and getting them well. And as soon as they’re well, they’re going to pitch. Same thing with the players. There is always a difference between being sore and hurt. You can push through fatigue and you can play with soreness. Can’t play with hurt.
“We’ve got a lot of season; 24 games is a lot of games. A lot can happen, and we’re very respectful of that. If things look a lot better, then there is a different formula you can use. Right now, Eloy is not playing because his knee is sore. If it wasn’t, he’d be in there. Our attention, our priority right now (is) guys we’re playing with, play as hard as we can, win the game we’re playing, the series we’re playing.”
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