Jimenez eyeing Friday return to White Sox lineup

Having last pitched on Sept. 1, Carlos Rodon is expected to start Friday night against the Red Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The White Sox are also hoping to have left fielder Eloy Jimenez back in the lineup.

Jimenez missed his second straight game Thursday with a right knee contusion.

In Tuesday night's game at Oakland, Jimenez was hit by Andrew Vaughn's foul line drive while sitting in the dugout.

"He's got a lot of soreness," manager Tony La Russa said. "Not as sore as (Wednesday). He's telling me he thinks he should be OK by (Friday) night, we'll see. With another full day of treatment I think it's possible but it's still too sore to play today."

Vaughn slumping:

After going 0-for-4 in Thursday's loss against the Athletics, Andrew Vaughn was 0-for-13 in the three-game series.

Vaughn was a star collegiate player at nearby Cal in Berkeley, and he's from Santa Rosa, Calif.

"He's been good in batting practice," manager Tony La Russa said. "(Tuesday), he had a lot of people here and I think he was trying to hit the ball out of the park. He had some pitches to hit that he just got under. His production is good, his average is good. He just can't force hits.

"I really think what he went through early would pay off now because he knows, get a good strike to hit, put a good swing on it. We'll keep reminding him."

In a 4-for-50 slide over his last 13 games, Vaughn's batting average has dipped to .240.

Positive outing:

Dallas Keuchel was tagged with another loss Wednesday night, but the White Sox's struggling starting pitcher was feeling better about himself after allowing 5 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk over 5.2 innings.

"I felt normal," said Keuchel, who allowed 15 earned runs in 9 innings over his last three starts before facing the A's. "I felt like this was a good one, but we've got 5 runs back on the board. It's not going right in any situation. There wasn't a ton of hard hit balls, they just seemed to find holes and they did. We've got to hang with them.

"Consistency was there. I felt like myself. I felt like I was staying on line, staying intact, command was there. I was covering the plate a whole bunch more than what I had."

In real danger of being left out of the Sox's postseason rotation, Keuchel is 8-9 with a 5.33 ERA for the year and the left-hander's 1-6 with a 7.50 ERA in the second half.