"To answer your question, everything felt like shit,” said Vince Velasquez told reporters in a somber visitor's locker room. “With all the injuries and everything we encountered, it just seems like everything is not the best energy itself in the clubhouse and on the field.” That is an understatement.
The White Sox got pounded by the Twins on Saturday 9-2. It was another afternoon of shotty defense, no offense, and poor pitching from Vince Velasquez. The loss marked the White Sox's sixth in a row. But the action on the field took a backseat to what happened in the top of the second inning.
Jimenez was trying to leg out an infield single after hitting a chopper to third. As he extended towards the first base bag he tumbled to the ground and immediately grabbed his hamstring. After staying on the ground for several minutes he needed help getting up from the training staff. Jimenez was able to limp under his own power before being carted off the field. The usually joyful Jimenez had a dejected look on his face as he stared down the barrel of missing significant time once again.
This has been an all too familiar sight for White Sox fans. Jimenez has yet to make it through a full season healthy with the White Sox. During his rookie year, he was out from April 27th to May 19th with a high ankle sprain. He then missed ten games in July with a right ulnar nerve contusion suffered in an outfield collision.
In 2020 he missed the first two games of the AL Wild Card Series with a foot injury then reaggravated it when he returned as a designated hitter in Game 3. Before the 2021 season even started Jimenez tore his pectoral trying to rob an uncatchable home run in Spring Training that kept him out of the lineup until July.
Jimenez will undergo an MRI after his latest injury on Saturday.
"We have to wait for the MRI to get the final diagnosis, but it makes everybody want to break up," Tony La Russa told reporters. "The injury to Eloy is more important than losing the game... I feel sorry for him.
"You walk in the training room and you see him, and he's crying his eyes out. You walk in and everybody cries. He loves what he does. I told him there will be a lot of season left when he gets back."
However, there was some optimism that Jimenez will be able to play again this season. La Russa said the injury is not season-ending and would keep him out for less time than he missed last season with a torn pectoral. However, more testing will be needed to confirm this.
Jimenez joins Lance Lynn, Yoan Moncada, Garrett Crochet, and Lucas Giolito on the list of White Sox players to miss time this season due to injury. One would think the White Sox injury luck has to turn around at some point after the devasting losses they have taken on the past two seasons.
