Grifol 'optimistic' after Anderson makes early exit in White Sox's 4-3 win over Twins
The White Sox won a game Monday. More importantly, it looks like they're not going to lose all-star shortstop Tim Anderson due to injury.
In the third inning of Monday afternoon's 4-3 win over the Twins at Target Field, Anderson collided with Minnesota's Matt Wallner after he slid over to cover third base on a double play try.
He was on the ground for an extended stretch, but Anderson was able to stay in the game before exiting in the fourth inning with a sore left knee.
"He felt a little bit of pain when it happened," Sox manager Pedro Grifol told reporters. "He felt like he could play through it and it stiffened up on him a little bit. He's getting further evaluated tonight but we'll see how that plays out. I'm optimistic."
Anderson isn't the only injured player the White Sox are monitoring.
Mired in an 0-for-12 slump after a sizzling start to the season, Yoan Moncada didn't play in the first of three games against the Twins due to back soreness.
"Kind of the same thing that got him in spring (training) a little bit," Grifol said. "Ten or 10 or 11 games in, we have to nip that in the bud quick rather than trying to grind through pain. That's not the right thing to do."
Before the game, the Sox placed relief pitcher Joe Kelly on the 15-day injured list with a right groin strain and selected the contract of right-hander Keynan Middleton from Class AAA Charlotte.
Kelly injured himself running in from the bullpen during Sunday's game at Pittsburgh when there was a near brawl.
Middleton pitched 3 scoreless innings of relief for Charlotte before joining the White Sox.
In the win over first-place Minnesota, Hanser Alberto filled in for Moncada and made a costly error in the first inning.
He made up for it in the fourth, hitting a 3-run homer off Twins starter Kenta Maeda after Yasmani Grandal tied the game with a run-scoring single.
"After that error, that's the best feeling," Alberto said. "Obviously, we didn't play the best defense. If you can help in the other way, it will be good."
Dylan Cease started for the Sox and pitched 5 innings, giving up 3 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits and 2 walks.
Cease struck out the side in the first inning and finished with six before relievers Jimmy Lambert, Kendall Graveman, Aaron Bummer and Reynaldo Lopez (second save) held Minnesota scoreless the rest of the way.
"It's still early and we're going to continue to kind of get into a groove and rhythm and hopefully just continue to keep going up and up," Cease said. "The effort has been great. That's really the biggest thing. That's the only thing I'm concerned with and I haven't seen any issues there. If we keep showing up like we are, good things are going to happen."