White Sox’ Mike Clevinger exits start vs. Dodgers with biceps soreness

LOS ANGELES — White Sox right-hander Mike Clevinger left his start against the Dodgers during the fifth inning Wednesday with right biceps soreness.

With the Sox leading 2-0, Clevinger was a pitch away from escaping a first and third, no out jam when he was hurt. He got Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to pop out in foul territory and had 1-2 count on J.D. Martinez. After throwing a pitch, Clevinger shook his right hand and went down in a squatting position behind the mound.

Sox manager Pedro Grifol signaled to the bullpen shortly after he got to the mound. Gregory Santos entered the game and finished the at-bat, striking out Martinez.

Clevinger will be re-evaluated Thursday.

“Felt my bicep grab, it grabbed pretty hard, kind of scared me,” Clevinger said. “Got to the training room, did some testing, seemed to go all right That’s the positive news out of all this.

“We’ll get an image and see what’s going on.”

Clevinger allowed three hits, two walks and hit a batter while striking out five. He threw 77 pitches. He was making his third start since coming off the 15-day injured list with right wrist inflammation.

“The last three starts felt like I was in a groove again for the first time since my second Tommy John surgery,” Clevinger said. “Tough pill to swallow.”

Losing Clevinger in a rotation featuring a struggling Lance Lynn (6.75 ERA) would be a tough pill for the Sox, who have little rotation depth. Triple-A right-hander Jesse Scholtens (3.78 ERA over 16 ²⁄₃ innings including one start) filled in when Clevinger was on the IL.

Anderson and Benintendi still homer-less

Tim Anderson and Andrew Benintendi were still looking for their first home runs of the season entering Wednesday.

Benintendi is playing through a sore right hand, but Anderson’s dry spell is more perplexing. He hit 17, 20, 18, 10 and 17 homers from 2017-21 and won a batting title with a .335 average in 2019, followed by a .322 mark in 2020. Anderson’s homer drought extends to last season, when he hit six in 79 games.

Anderson homered once in his last 44 games in 2022. He tore the sagittal band on his left middle finger on Aug. 6, requiring surgery and effectively ending his season.

He entered Wednesday batting .259/.299/.306 with no homers, no triples, nine doubles and a .605 OPS in 47 games and was 0-for-2 in his first at-bats Wednesday. He was out from April 11 to May 2 with a sprained right knee.

“His swing was in the zone better and he was using the whole field” when he was hitting with power in the past, first-year hitting coach Jose Castro said.

“Last year he was hurt, too and that hindered his power. This year he was better physically, right? And then he got hurt in Minnesota.”

Anderson declines to talk about the knee. He was batting .293 with four doubles, two RBI, seven runs scored and a .339 on-base percentage over his last 14 games.

“He’s really been going to right center and we’re trying to get him back on track to be the Tim that we know,” Castro said.

IL for Moncada?

Grifol didn’t rule out third baseman Yoan Moncada going on the injured list again.

“I’m not real sure yet,” Grifol said. “We’ll see. It’s going to be an ongoing thing.”

Moncada is playing through low back soreness and was 7-for-50 (.140) with one homer over his last 15 games. He was out from April 10 to May 12 with what general manager Rick Hahn said was a protruding disc.

Eloy returns

Eloy Jimenez started at designated hitter after missing four games with a sore left heel. He said he fouled a pitch off his left foot in Game 1 of a doubleheader at the Yankees Thursday — before he hit a go-ahead home run — and was sore in the heel area through Game 2.

“It was something with my heel,” Jimenez said. “I don’t know how to describe it. It was just sharp pain. I feel good now.”