White Sox reinstate Eloy Jimenez from IL before Astros series

The White Sox reinstated Eloy Jimenez from the injured list before their game against the Astros on Monday night. The left fielder had been out since April 26 with a high right ankle sprain.

Jimenez, who’s batted .241 with three homers in 21 games this season, went down last month after colliding with an outfield wall while navigating to try to catch a ball. The Sox put him on the IL two days later.

The rookie started a rehab assignment recently with Class AAA Charlotte, where he batted 7-of-22 with one home run in five games.

In addition to getting back Jimenez, the Sox plan to go with right-hander Ryan Burr to open their series opener against the Astros on Monday night. The bullpen should be in for a long night with usual starter, Manny Banuelos, sidelined with left shoulder soreness.

Burr, in his second season with the Sox, has never started a game in professional baseball before. The 2015 fifth-round pick out of Arizona State immediately started his career as a reliever four years ago. Across five different levels of pro baseball, he’s made 146 relief appearances and zero starts.

That’s expected to end Monday with the Sox in need of someone to take the mound for the start of their series against the Astros. Injuries have heavily taxed the team’s rotation, which already lost Carlos Rodon to Tommy John surgery recently, so they’re going to piece together the series opener with relievers.

Burr will likely only throw for one or two innings.

To clear room for Jimenez on the active roster, outfielder Nicky Delmonico was reassigned to Charlotte on Sunday night. He has batted .206/.265/.286 in 68 plate appearances at the big league level this year.

The Sox open their series against the Astros at 7:10 p.m. CT.