White Sox’ Leury Garcia lands on injured list

At a time when the White Sox can’t afford to lose infield depth, infielder/outfielder Leury Garcia landed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday with a strained lower back. Infielder Romy Gonzalez was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take Garcia’s spot on the roster and was in the starting lineup for the game against the Astros on Wednesday.

The Sox are without shortstop Tim Anderson, who had surgery on a finger last week and will be out approximately five weeks. Rookie Lenyn Sosa, batting .118/.143/.235 in 10 games, has filled in at short along with Garcia, who has looked to be in some discomfort in recent games.

The Sox could look outside the organization for experienced help at shortstop. Veteran Elvis Andrus was released by the Rangers on Wednesday and was known to be in talks about coming to the South Side.

Gonzalez, 25, is batting .198/.282/.339 (24-for-121) with five doubles, four home runs, 10 RBI, 15 runs scored and five stolen bases in 33 games with Charlotte. He has had three stints on the Knights’ injured list.

Gonzalez appeared in 10 games with the Sox in 2021, hitting .250 with three doubles.

Garcia is hitting .212/.238/.275 with three homers and eight doubles.

“I don’t think there’s a day that passes where upstairs is not looking at how to improve the club,” manager Tony La Russa said. “It’s safe to say they’re always looking. We’ll see what happens.”

Robert comes in as pinch runner

There were indications that Luis Robert would return to the lineup, but Robert received an injection in his left wrist to calm down inflammation Tuesday and didn’t take batting practice. He pinch-ran for Eloy Jimenez in the eighth inning.

“But the X-rays and everything, looks like it’s good for him to keep proceeding,” La Russa said. “There’s soreness. When he swings, fighting through the soreness is not going to set him back.”

La Russa said there is no reason for Robert to go on the 10-day injured list.

“It’s a question of when he can swing normally and not hold back,” La Russa said. “There’s nothing damaged in there that you have to protect.”

Lambert climbing

Jimmy Lambert finds himself pitching in higher-leverage situations of late, working in the eighth or ninth inning in five of his last six appearances. Fourteen of the righty’s last 15 outings have been of the scoreless variety. Lambert (2.97 ERA, 2.28 in relief) struck out all four batters he faced in a 5-3 victory Sunday against the Tigers and two more in the eighth inning of a 4-3 win over the Astros on Tuesday, running his streak to six whiffs in a row.

“To get in there in a one-run game and deliver, there is no better feeling than helping the team win, that’s for sure,” Lambert said.

This and that

Double-A Birmingham outfielder Oscar Colas is hitting .348/.431/.708 with 10 homers and a 1.139 OPS in 23 games since being promoted from High-A Winston-Salem on July 12.

† The game Sunday at Cleveland will be an exclusive streaming broadcast on Peacock. The Sept. 3 game against the Twins (6:15 p.m.) has been picked up by Fox for a full national broadcast (no NBCSCH telecast).

† Dylan Cease said he intentionally balked by dropping the ball on the mound with Astros third baseman Alex Bregman on second base Tuesday, allowing Bregman to move to third. Bregman is skilled at reading signs and location and relaying it to hitters.

The Rangers did the same thing with Bregman on second base last week.

“It’s baseball in 2022,” Cease said.