Sox beat Pirates, but Giolito leaves with hamstring tightness in 5th

It's been a bizarre season for the White Sox, who are 21 games over .500 despite watching a slew of high-quality players go down to injury.

Things have been looking up from a health standpoint over the last month with the likes of Yasmani Grandal, Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert not only returning but absolutely wrecking opposing pitchers.

After Tuesday, though, you've got to wonder if there's more trouble on the horizon.

The first bit of bad news came in the afternoon when the Sox announced all-star pitcher Lance Lynn was placed on the 10-day injured list with knee inflammation.

Another potential issue arose during the fifth inning of the Sox's 4-2 victory over Pittsburgh at Guaranteed Rate Field when starter Lucas Giolito was forced to depart shortly after sprinting for a slow roller off the bat of Ben Gamel. Giolito could not make the play in time and Gamel reached on a single.

Manager Tony LaRussa and the training staff came out to check on Giolito, who insisted he was fine. But 4 pitches later - including a wild one that allowed Hoy Park to sprint home and cut the Sox' lead to 2-1 - Giolito was done. He left with left hamstring tightness and will be reevaluated Wednesday.

Giolito said nothing seemed amiss after the ground ball, but he did notice a "tug" after the one that allowed Park to score.

"The slip was awkward, but I didn't feel ... any sort of injury on that play," said Giolito, who leads the Sox with 158⅓ innings pitched. "Then I threw one pitch fine and that next pitch after is when I felt that tug there."

Giolito was charged with a second earned run when reliever Ryan Tepera yielded an RBI single to Colin Moran. That tied the game at 2-2, but the Sox (77-56) restored their 2-run lead in the sixth when Brian Goodwin coaxed a bases-loaded walk and Leury Garcia hit a sacrifice fly to score Eloy Jimenez.

Giolito may need some time to heal, but he doesn't believe it's as serious as the hamstring injury he suffered two years ago when he sat out for two weeks.

"The sensation I felt on the pitch wasn't as intense and painful as in 2019," Giolito said. "So that gives me some confidence that it won't be very serious and I'll come back pretty soon."

LaRussa hopes that's the case, but did say: "He had to come out of the game. We're going to give it a serious look."

Michael Kopech, Aaron Bummer, Craig Kimbrel and Liam Hendricks worked 4 innings of scoreless relief. Kimbrel got some help when Robert made a diving catch in center field to rob Jacob Stallings with two outs in the eighth.

"Gazelle," LaRussa said when asked to describe what Robert does in the field. "He eats up ground, but it's like he's just gliding along. He really runs so beautifully that it doesn't look like he's covering as much ground or working as hard, but he is.

"And it's not just about (his speed). It's his judgment. He reads the ball - in, out, left, right, back. Gold Glover."

Jose Abreu and Grandal both hit solo homers that gave the Sox a 2-0 lead after three innings. Abreu now has 28 on the season and an MLB-best 102 RBI.

Yoan Moncada extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games with a double in the first inning.