Lucas Giolito played catch near the left-field warning track at Kauffman Stadium a couple of hours before the Chicago White Sox were scheduled to begin a weekend series Friday against the Kansas City Royals.
After a brief break, the right-hander ran in the outfield to test an injured left hamstring.
Earlier Friday, the Sox placed Giolito on the 10-day injured list. The move is retroactive to Wednesday.
Giolito is focused on being sidelined for a short time.
“For me it would be that I’m on the 10-day (IL), I come off as soon as I’m able to come off and make as many starts that fit into the rest of the schedule until playoffs,” Giolito said.
That’s where the work like Friday’s comes in.
“(Thursday) felt pretty good with super-light catch,” Giolito said. “(Thursday) I was protecting it a little bit. And then (Friday) I felt like I took a big step forward. I was able to put a lot on the ball. At the same time, not going crazy with leg drive, being a little relaxed in the legs, but I was able to let some go pretty good.
“Running was calculated but that felt good as well. But at the same time, we have time on our side. I’m not out there trying to push it as hard as I can. Just letting the rest work, the (physical training) work, all that, do its thing and keep progressing day by day.”
Giolito suffered the injury during the fifth inning Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“Just don’t want to pressure him to declare himself ready before he’s really ready and err on the side of caution,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s supposed to throw a bullpen on (Wednesday). He’s saying it’s going to be (miss) one start, but we’ve just got to be really certain because if we rush him back and he gets hurt, that’s the worst consequence.”
Giolito is 9-9 with a 3.69 ERA, 180 strikeouts, a .221 average against, 1.11 WHIP and .279 on-base percentage in 27 starts.
“I never like to be on the IL, like, at all,” Giolito said. “If it were toward the end of the year, I probably wouldn’t do the IL and just progress through. But we are in a spot right now where we have time on our side, so that was the choice that was made. I’m progressing very nicely.
“The hamstring, everything is feeling pretty good (after playing catch for the second consecutive day). But at the same time, I’m not pushing it too hard. Easing in and letting it heal, doing a bunch of exercises, all the rehab work and it should progress pretty nicely.”
Giolito’s injury came on the same day the Sox placed starter Lance Lynn on the 10-day IL with right knee inflammation. The Sox are hopeful Lynn will miss only one start.
Shortstop Tim Anderson also is on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain.
“It was frustrating because I wanted to make all of my starts this year,” Giolito said. “But as far as actual worries about my health or an injury — no. Because I knew immediately it was pretty mild and then the MRI confirmed that. Just keep progressing along day by day.”
Reynaldo López is scheduled to start in place of Lynn on Saturday against the Royals. The Sox are working through the plan for filling in for Giolito.
“He’s supposed to pitch in the Oakland series, so we’ve got to play this weekend and see where we are,” La Russa said. “If you do the math, I think Dallas has got five days on Wednesday and López will have five days on Thursday.
“I don’t know if we’ll stick to that. We’re just going to see what kind of usage we have. We did add (Ryan) Burr (from Triple-A Charlotte) rather than a position player to make sure we’re deep enough in our bullpen for these three games (against the Royals).”
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