White Sox OF Adam Engel coming off injured list Tuesday

White Sox outfielder Adam Engel was with the team in Detroit on Monday and is expected to be reinstated from the injured list before the game Tuesday, manager Tony La Russa said.

Limited to 33 games and 121 plate appearances because of hamstring, shoulder and groin injuries, Engel is batting .248/.339/.505 with seven home runs. A Gold Glove finalist as a center fielder in 2018, he shapes up as a valuable component for the postseason roster.

“It was good to see him,” La Russa said. “Looks good, feels good.”

Engel has been on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte. In eight games this month, he was 4-for-26 with one homer and 10 strikeouts. Engel started all three games of the wild-card series against the Athletics last season, going 3-for-12 with a homer and a double.

Aches and pains

Andrew Vaughn, on the injured list retroactively since Sept. 10 with lower back inflammation, is experiencing discomfort when he runs but is taking swings in the cage and “making progress all the time and is on his way,” La Russa said.

Right-hander Ryan Tepera, a key bullpen piece who cut the index finger on his pitching hand on a door frame in his apartment last week, played catch for a second straight day but is still feeling discomfort.

A day off for Abreu

Jose Abreu generally leaves the manager with a fight on his hands if he wants to give the first baseman a day off. But La Russa said Abreu didn’t object too much when the Sox opened the three-game series against the Tigers.

“It’s a good time for it,” La Russa said. “I can tell, he was less insistent than usual. He’s got sore spots all over.”

Abreu has been hit by a pitch 20 times and does not wear protective padding as most other players do. He leads the team with 142 games played (of 149). Yoan Moncada is next with 132, followed by Vaughn (120), Leury Garcia (114) and Tim Anderson (112).

Tuesday game changed to day

Because of expected rain, the start time of Tuesday’s game was moved from 5:40 p.m. to 12:10 p.m.

Left-hander Dallas Keuchel (8-9, 5.23), 0-3 with a 10.02 ERA and a .394 opponents’ average over his last five starts, is the Sox’ starting pitcher. In his last outing, Keuchel pitched around five walks to post six innings of two-run ball in a 3-2 loss to the Angels on Wednesday.

Day and night difference

The Sox are 30-26 in day games and batting .247/.331/.396 with a .727 OPS, compared to 55-35 with a .259/.337/.434 hitting line and .771 OPS in night games through Sunday.

Sox pitching numbers don’t differ much between the two, including a 3.77 ERA at night compared to 3.74 in day games.

Right-hander Lucas Giolito, who prefers pitching at night, noted heightened alertness from teammates in the Sox’ 7-2 victory Sunday against the Rangers.

“I feel like day games for me this year have not been the best, and for our team as a whole, sometimes we come out a little bit flat on day games,” Giolito said. “But [Sunday], every single guy in the dugout was in it. We were chirping; we were completely in the game pitch to pitch. I could feel that energy from the first inning.

“That’s right where we need to be.”