La Russa misses Tuesday's loss to Royals; he'll undergo medical testing Wednesday
White Sox manager Tony La Russa was in the dugout before Tuesday night's game against the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field.
He took questions from the media like any other game day, and La Russa was on the field talking with general manager Rick Hahn during batting practice.
An hour before first pitch, the Sox announced the 77-year-old Hall of Famer was not managing Tuesday's game at the direction of his doctors.
La Russa is scheduled to undergo further medical testing Wednesday in Chicago.
Bench coach Miguel Cairo managed the White Sox in the first of three games against Kansas City.
"We're going to find out tomorrow," Cairo said after the fading Sox lost to the Royals 9-7. "Hopefully he's going to be fine and he's back tomorrow doing his duties. He wants to be there. He would love to be there. But he needs to rest and they're going to find out tomorrow what is going on."
Cairo was acting manager in place of La Russa twice last season, including the "Field of Dreams" game against the Yankees in Iowa.
The Sox are hoping to have an update on La Russa before Wednesday's game vs. the Royals.
During his gathering with the media, La Russa acknowledged the White Sox were in dire straits during their recent slide. They've now lost 10 of 12, are 3 games under .500 at 63-66 and they trail the first-place Guardians by 6 games in the AL Central.
"We've got to play as a unit," Cairo said. "Believe me, those guys are going out there giving their best. We just have to put it together."
After Kansas City scored 5 unanswered runs off starting pitcher Lucas Giolito to take the early lead, the Sox's inconsistent offense answered back with 4 runs in the fifth inning.
The two-out rally featured Eloy Jimenez's RBI single and Gavin Sheets' 3-run homer.
With Tanner Banks on in relief of Giolito in the sixth, the Royals regained the momentum with 2 runs and the White Sox resorted back to looking like a team playing out the string.
"Time's ticking, so this is a stretch where we need to be playing well," Giolito said after pitching 5⅓ innings and giving up 5 runs on 6 hits (3 homers) and 2 walks. "It's frustrating to not be. Speaking for myself, I wanted to come in tonight and give a good performance, keep it close. We had a chance to win and it didn't work out. We've got to just rally and come back tomorrow and get a win tomorrow and go from there."
Sheets made it close with a 2-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning.
"Just a lot of aggressive swings," he said. "Taking good swings at the right pitches, using the whole field. Just swinging with confidence."