Beckham on the mend, hoping to play soon

Second baseman Gordon Beckham missed his second straight game with a sore groin Tuesday night, but he expects to return and play against the Twins on Wednesday.

Beckham, who injured himself while making a nice defensive play against the Orioles on Sunday, went through a workout before the White Sox opened a three-game series against Minnesota.

"I can feel it a little bit, just being a little tender from not being out there for a couple of days," Beckham said. "But for the most part, it felt really good. Swinging-wise, it was a non-issue."

Beckham will wait to see how he feels Wednesday before making a final decision.

"Running around, doing what I did today, tomorrow is a definite unless it gets a lot worse after doing what I've done," Beckham said. "I would assume tomorrow I'll be in there."

Closing time: Bobby Jenks made his first appearance since blowing a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning at Detroit last Thursday.

Bothered by a sore back during the Sox' four-game series at Baltimore, Jenks pitched a scoreless inning against the Twins, allowing 1 hit.

Manager Ozzie Guillen hasn't talked to Jenks since his ineffective outing against the Tigers.

"One thing about players, they read a lot of papers and they only pick the bad things," Guillen said. "If Bobby needs to know what's going on, I'll tell him. It's very clear. I have to see Bobby on the mound first before he goes back to his role. I never said it's not his role, but I've got to see him one outing, maybe two, to see what he has and then we'll see what we're doing."

Twins tab Perkins: As expected, Minnesota scratched Kevin Slowey (sore elbow) from Wednesday night's start against the White Sox.

Left-hander Glen Perkins was called up from Class AAA Rochester to take Slowey's spot, and it looks like the Sox caught a break.

In 23 starts for Rochester this season, Perkins was 4-9 with a 6.08 ERA.

Morneau still sidelined: Justin Morneau hasn't played since July 7 due to a concussion, but the Twins' all-star first baseman was hoping to join his teammates at U.S. Cellular Field this week and take batting practice.

Instead, Morneau is staying back in Minnesota and working out at Target Field.

"He's comfortable there and he's comfortable working out at home," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.