James Shields says he’s OK after getting struck by batted ball

Right-hander James Shields exited the White Sox’ 5-3 loss to the Indians on Monday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field during the top of the seventh inning after getting hit on the right knee with a line drive off the bat of Francisco Mejia.

X-rays were negative on Shields, who thought he was hurt more seriously before managing a smile as he hobbled off under his own power. The official word is right knee contusion and day-to-day, for Shields, who isn’t a ruling out missing his next start.

“I thought it was broken,” said Shields, who gave up four runs over 6„ innings.

Garcia-Bauer spat

Indians righty Trevor Bauer and Avisail Garcia exchanged words over a couple of at-bats. Bauer said the issue was that Garcia was challenging him to throw more fastballs.

Bauer struck out Garcia in the fourth and pointed to the Sox -dugout as if to say “sit down” which visibly upset Garcia.

“He likes to run his mouth . . .” Bauer said. “I’m not sure he knows that the rules of this game, you can throw whatever pitch you want.

“I threw him a first-pitch slider, he fouled it off, stared right at me, said something while he was nodding his head like, ‘I’m right on you’ so I told him, ‘if you’re that confident, step back in the box, let’s go, get back in the box.’ Then he fouled off another one he should have hit. He looked at me and started nodding again so I threw him a curveball and he swung and missed, so I decided to remind him of the rules of the game, that three strikes and you’re out, you can go sit back in the dugout.

“To his credit, he took it like a champ, he put his head down and shut his mouth and he walked back to the dugout. Good for him.”

Garcia was not immediately available after the game.

“It’s a nice competitive gesture between two guys who are competing against each other,” Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “Listen, they’re both trying to do their best. It’s a little give-and-take from both. I’m sure they respect each other.”

Good Engel on the ball

Center fielder Adam Engel took a home run away from Austin Jackson with the running, leaping catch.

“You just get excited for your pitcher, your team,” Engel said. “You turn a run into an out, which is a momentum play.”

Engel slammed into the padding but held on to the ball.

A Dunning deal

In addition to Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, the Sox also landed 2016 first-round pick Dane Dunning in the Adam Eaton trade in December, and none of the three right-handers have disappointed.

At Class A Winston-Salem, Dunning earned the win in his final start Sunday, allowing one hit with nine strikeouts in a seven-inning shutout at Salem. He retired the final 13 batters he faced, brought his 2017 strikeout total to 168 (11th in the minor leagues) and finished his first season in the Sox system going 8-8 with a 2.94 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.

This and that

Yoan Moncada (shin) and Nicky Delmonico (wrist) are close to returning, although Renteria said a cautious approach is being taken with both.

— Left-hander David Holmberg will start Tuesday against the Indians.

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Email: dvanscouwen@suntimes.com

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