Notes: First road trip; Moncada rests

CHICAGO -- The White Sox begin an eight-game road trip Monday evening, taking them for three at Cleveland, three at Kansas City and two at Milwaukee with an off-day on Thursday.

It’s an important stretch, with six of the eight games coming against American League Central opponents during a larger run of 15 of their first 19 games facing the division. But it’s also the White Sox first road trip in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Manager Rick Renteria doesn’t feel as if he needs to set any extra road guidelines for his charges. The players are handling it themselves in holding each other accountable and protecting one another.

“I won’t tell you what measures they are going to take, but they have sat down and had serious conversations about everybody being mindful and respectful to keep the whole team as a part of their thinking if they want to go out and do something that might put them in a compromised position,” Renteria said. “They are taking a very mature approach to it.

“I’m just very fortunate in that they are taking a hold of that particular responsibility very seriously. And as in anything, it’s just about trust. I trust they are going to do what they need to do.”

Moncada gets a rest

Yoán Moncada has four hits in his first nine at-bats, including two doubles, one home run and four RBIs. But the third baseman was out of the lineup Sunday, which was a somewhat planned measure by Renteria.

Moncada tested positive for COVID-19 during the intake process before Summer Camp and didn’t rejoin the team until July 16. As solid as he looks, Renteria had cautioned about not playing Moncada three days in a row at the outset.

“We just want to have a day of rest,” Renteria said. “Just a complete day of rest if we can do it. We are going to try to manage it that way. We still have 57 games after this.

“It’s best to try to do that right now. Give it a breath. Again, we have another day off Thursday, which will be a nice break for him, as well. We’ll continue to monitor his progression, and, hopefully, we’ll get to a point where we don’t have to really concern ourselves too much about it.”

Renteria’s goal was to keep Moncada from throwing Sunday, after he was experiencing normal soreness at what would basically be the start of Summer Camp for him. The hope is for Moncada to play all three games at Cleveland.

Third to first
• Right fielder Nomar Mazara, who opened the season on the injured list without a specific reason given by the team, continues to progress, per Renteria.

“I would just say, without jinxing anything, he’s doing well,” Renteria said. “That’s as much as I can tell you right now.”

• Leury García became the sixth player in AL history to homer from both sides of the plate from the No. 9 slot. He joined Garland Buckeye (Sept. 10, 1925), U L Washington (Sept. 21, 1979), Dale Sveum (July 17, 1987), Geoff Blum (May 4, 2004) and Rob Bowen (May 4, 2007).

They said it
“They've got a really nice mix of young guys and old guys, and I think they're going to be good for a few years. It's definitely not the White Sox lineup of 2019, where you can come in here and face three, four or five good hitters and then kind of cruise through the rest of the lineup. They're going to make you work. They're going to put good swings on balls. They're going to work counts. We're just going to have to be better.” -- Twins reliever Zack Littell, after allowing three home runs in one inning against the White Sox Saturday

“I’m going to send it home. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do. I got the lineup card, and I think I’m going to have all the guys in the lineup sign it. That would be pretty cool.” -- Right-hander Jimmy Lambert, on his scoreless big league debut Saturday, including his first career strikeout