Through rain, wind and an April chill, the White Sox trudged ahead without Eloy Jimenez on Monday afternoon, trying to get rolling without their cleanup hitter after being on the receiving end of a series sweep to open the season.
A day after Jimenez, the injury-plagued designated hitter, left Sunday’s loss to the Tigers with a sore left adductor, the Braves dropped the Sox to 0-4 with a 9-0 trouncing in eight innings.
Played before an announced crowd of 13,781 (tickets sold) while the Cubs were playing their home opener across town, the game was called after delays of 44 and 20 minutes.
The delays were longer for the Sox’ lineup, which had just three hits against 40-year-old Braves starter Charlie Morton (1-0) and two relievers, the same number the Sox put up in a 1-0 loss to the Tigers on Opening Day.
Things are looking bleak in a hurry. All-Star outfielder Luis Robert Jr., who slugged two homers Saturday, was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts Monday and is hitless in his last nine at-bats, with seven strikeouts. And who knows how long Jimenez will be out. Manager Pedro Grifol called him “day to day” after the game.
“You can’t think of it that way — you have to think ‘next man up,’ ” said first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who moved up from fifth to take Jimenez’s No. 4 spot and went 0-for-2 with a walk. “We’ve got 13 position players on this team. Everybody has a job. That has to be the mindset.”
The Sox might be seeing the forecast for rain Tuesday and snow Wednesday as a welcome opportunity for a reset.
“I really don’t have much for you guys,” Grifol told reporters after the game. “These are ones you’ve just got to flush and get ready to play tomorrow.”
Chris Flexen (0-1), an inexpensive $1.75 million offseason acquisition to man the fourth spot in the rotation, was no match for the Braves’ potent lineup after retiring the first six batters. The Braves, a World Series contender, knocked him out in the fifth inning with four runs on his pitching line.
“I put us in a bad spot early,” Flexen said.
The bullpen also took a beating.
Jimenez had an MRI exam Monday morning, as well as X-rays, said Grifol, who noted the Sox will “see how he feels [Tuesday].”
Unless he’d had a 10-RBI day in him, Jimenez’s presence wouldn’t have mattered much Monday. But the Sox, who were last in the major leagues in runs last year and made no lineup upgrades in the offseason, will continue to be challenged — which is why they absolutely must have Jimenez, third baseman Yoan Moncada (two hits Monday, including a double) and Robert up and running most of the time in 2024. All three have histories with injuries.
The Sox are 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position this season.
“We’ve just got to do a better job of putting balls in play when we’ve got runners in scoring position,” Grifol said. “Those are things we’re working on.”
A Jimenez injury story has become too commonplace for both him and the Sox. Gavin Sheets (0-for-2, hit by pitch) was the designated hitter Monday. Triple-A infielder Lenyn Sosa was in the clubhouse, at the ready if needed. A stint on the injured list can’t be ruled out.
“We’ll wait to make that decision when we get all the information,” Grifol said.
He noted that Jimenez, who’s transitioning to full-time DH work this season, stays active during games. Grifol couldn’t say why he’s more susceptible to lower-body injuries than most.
“I don’t know much about that world,” Grifol said. “Obviously, there’s things you can do to put yourself in a position for that not to happen. He’s doing those, we feel. I’m not sure [why he is hurt so often]. We talked about it this morning. We talked about routines between at-bats. Believe me, we’re exhausting everything we can to make sure we prevent these.”
