It's gut check time for White Sox without TA

KANSAS CITY -- Between games of Tuesday’s doubleheader, the White Sox announced that All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson would be out approximately six weeks and will require left hand surgery.

It wasn’t pleasant news at all, but the White Sox rallied around two youngsters and played a solid nightcap to defeat the Royals, 3-2, at Kauffman Stadium and earn a doubleheader split. Kansas City won the opener, 4-2, before Chicago used homers by rookie Lenyn Sosa and Yoán Moncada and stalwart starting pitching by Davis Martin to end the night on a high note.

The first response to Anderson’s expected lengthy absence was a positive one. The mission now for the White Sox is to hang tough in the American League Central until Anderson gets back.

“The way it was described to me, we expect to have [Anderson] play before the season is over,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “So it’s up to us to keep winning games in the meantime. So that when he gets back, we’re contending.”

Sosa and Martin certainly did their best to get the White Sox off and running in the wake of the Anderson medical report.

It was Sosa who jump-started the Game 2 offense with a Statcast-projected 428-foot homer that gave the White Sox a 1-0 lead in the third. The rookie, Chicago’s No. 21 prospect, wound up with the baseball that went over the left-field wall for his first Major League homer.

“That was a very special moment,” Sosa said through a translator.

La Russa indicated that Sosa will be getting playing time -- at shortstop or elsewhere -- if he can provide some pop to energize the offense.

Sosa also had a single and lined out to right.

“The more you do, the more you play,” La Russa said.

Martin worked into the sixth inning, his only blemish being Vinnie Pasquantino’s solo homer in the fourth.

“The rookies won the awards,” La Russa said. “Davis for pitching, Sosa for offense. Davis had a real good mix and real good command. He showed different guys some different things and was very impressive.”

The game was tied 1-1 when Moncada hit a solo homer in the sixth. The White Sox tacked on a run in the eighth and held on as Liam Hendricks picked up the save.

Martin said the Anderson news wasn’t about to dampen Chicago’s spirit heading into the second game.

“It’s the fighting mindset,” said Martin, who was from Triple-A Charlotte to serve as the 27th player for Tuesday's doubleheader and then optioned back when the game was over. “Whoever is in this locker room is going to fight for nine innings to win a baseball game. All the older guys set a good precedent for what is expected of us younger guys.”

When La Russa got the news about Anderson, the manager said he thought back to last year and how the Braves rallied together -- and won a World Series championship -- following the season-ending injury to Ronald Acuna Jr. in July.

“The kind of player [Anderson] is and what he means to our club, it’s just a really tough break,” La Russa said. “It happens. You just have to play through it.”