White Sox dealt another early blow with outfielder Andrew Benintendi placed on 10-day injured list

CLEVELAND (AP) — Andrew Benintendi was placed on the 10-day injured list by the White Sox before Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians because of a left adductor strain, a blow in what has been another rough start to Chicago’s season.

Benintendi said before the game that he might have been able to play in a couple of days but wanted to give the injury more time to heal because it is early in the season. Benintendi left Sunday’s game at Detroit during the fifth inning.

The 30-year-old outfielder thinks the injury occurred during the first inning of Saturday’s game when he made a leaping catch into the left-field wall to rob Jake Rogers of a hit.

The IL move was retroactive to Monday. Chicago recalled Greg Jones from Triple-A Charlotte to take Benintendi’s spot. Jones was claimed off waivers from Colorado on March 26.

Benintendi is leading the White Sox in many offensive categories, including batting average (.290), total bases (15) and RBIs (six). He also is tied for the team lead in home runs with two.

“He’s a big part of our offense. I mean, he’s right there in the heart of our order every day,” manager Will Venable said. “He’s a guy that I think everyone looks to and has that kind of stability and presence in our lineup that we’re definitely going to miss.”

The White Sox (2-8) dropped six straight going into Wednesday’s game and were batting .199, the second-lowest average in the majors.

“I think right now you’re seeing some quality at-bats and we’re just not having the results,” said Venable, who is in his first season as manager. “There’s a process in play here that we’ve gone through. We’re really happy about some of the underlying stuff. We look forward to that bringing results on the field with runs and wins.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb