Losses continue to pile up for White Sox as road trip begins

A difficult road trip making stops at Toronto and Tampa Bay got off to an ominous start for the White Sox.

Before playing the first of three games against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, the Sox placed star shortstop Tim Anderson on the 10-day injured list with a strained right groin.

It was another key loss for a team that just can't get healthy, either on the field or in the standings.

Anderson hurt himself fielding a groundball in Sunday's win over the Cubs. He had to be helped to the dugout and was in obvious discomfort.

On Tuesday, Sox manager Tony La Russa told reporters the hope is Anderson misses only three weeks.

"Good news is that it could be worse, which means three weeks and not six weeks is realistic maybe," La Russa said. "Good news for us. Could have been more."

If it is only three weeks, Anderson might be able to avoid a rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues.

"He was in great shape physically when he got hurt," La Russa said. "Once he feels good, with his quality repeating (batting) stroke, it wouldn't take that much time with his swing."

Anderson was not in the lineup Tuesday and even though he was activated off the COVID-19 list, Luis Robert also sat out.

Another White Sox makeshift lineup actually did some damage against the Jays, but not enough to prevent a 6-5 loss.

The Sox had a big inning going in the sixth, scoring a pair of runs to make it a 6-5 game.

But with Danny Mendick on first base and Reese McGuire on third and one out, some horrendous baserunning might have cost the White Sox the game.

Yasmani Grandal hit a deep flyball to left field that was caught by Toronto's Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

While McGuire tagged from third and failed to run hard to home, Mendick decided to also tag and move to second for some reason.

Not only was Mendick thrown out, he was tagged before McGuire crossed the plate and the inning ended. Fittingly, Grandal slammed his helmet to the ground after the messy double play.

"(Mendick) came in and apologized," La Russa said. "First of all, it was a good play. But when you tag up and have the play in front of you and the throw goes there (second base), you have to stop. You stop."

In the ninth inning, Andrew Vaughn (4-for-5, homer, 2 RBI) led off with a single and Jose Abreu followed with another single.

Jake Burger grounded into a double play and Gavin Sheets struck out swinging to end the game.

Sox starter Lucas Giolito (3-2) took the loss after pitching 4.2 innings and allowing 6 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks.