'Sigh of relief' for Liam Hendriks, White Sox as it appears closer will avoid Tommy John

For the past six months, Liam Hendriks' health was a major story, for obvious reasons.

Diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in early December, Hendriks fought and won a battle for his life and made an inspirational return to the White Sox on May 29.

Through it all, the focus was on Hendriks and his comeback from cancer. Then, baseball happened.

After pitching an inning of scoreless relief against the Marlins Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field, Hendriks was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.

"It's been sore for the last few weeks, ever since before my rehab assignment it was barking," Hendriks told reporters Tuesday before the Sox played Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. "But my mantra is to pitch through things until I can't."

Following Friday's outing, Hendriks knew it was time to shut it down.

"It kept getting a little worse and worse and worse until the last couple of outings, I wasn't able to pitch through that pain," he said. "Usually, the more I throw, generally the better I feel. And this time, it wasn't going away. It was lingering, but I got the (cortisone) shot in there the other day and I'm actually able to dry my face with my right hand for the first time in a while, which is nice."

Hendriks is also scheduled to get a PRP injection this week, which was cleared by his oncologist.

Given all of the high leverage innings he's pitched over his 13-year career, there is no doubt Hendriks' elbow has some major wear and tear.

But for now, there is no structural damage and it looks like the White Sox's 34-year-old closer is going to avoid Tommy John surgery.

"That definitely worried me a little bit because I know that I don't have the greatest integrity of an elbow, the mileage I put on it and everything like that," Hendriks said. "It's always a little concerning, but after I got the scans done I was cautiously optimistic. And once I got the readings done, it was a sigh of relief.

"It's a little bit of inflammation around some certain areas, but we don't know what caused it. It could have been one throw, it could have been, for all I know, a chip that got lodged somewhere. Hope to eradicate it and move toward similar to what happened last year, miss a little time, but get back and attack it again."

In 2022, Hendriks missed three weeks with a flexor strain in his right forearm.

Jimenez could play Wednesday:

There was another injury update for the White Sox on Tuesday, and it was much more positive.

Held out of the starting lineup for the fourth straight game with a lower left leg injury, right fielder Eloy Jimenez could be back on the field Wednesday night when the Sox play the middle game of the series against the Dodgers.

"Big bat in the middle of the order," manager Pedro Grifol said. "Obviously, he really lengthens it out. When he's playing every day, he's one of the best hitters in the game."

Jimenez is hitting .333/.380/.542 with 4 home runs and 17 RBI in his last 18 games.