Anderson sprains ankle in loss; X-rays negative

BOSTON -- Tim Anderson exited Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox without putting weight on his right foot after he suffered a sprained right ankle fielding a ground ball from J.D. Martinez in the fifth inning of the White Sox 6-3 loss at Fenway Park.

X-rays conducted during the game were negative, and Anderson will be reevaluated on Wednesday.

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“It seems to be an ankle sprain. But to what degree is still left to be determined tomorrow, and we’ll see how he feels,” Chicago manager Rick Renteria said.

Anderson cleanly fielded the ball -- hit toward second base off Jose Ruiz -- and went to the ground in obvious discomfort after throwing to José Abreu at first for the out. He remained down on the field, as teammates and staff gathered around him, before he was helped toward the dugout.

“I just saw him go down, so I couldn’t give you a technical determination as to what was the cause,” Renteria said. “From what I understand, obviously he was ranging to his left, was kind of making the throw kind of on the run, planting his right foot and as he continued to make the throw, it seemed that his leg, his foot just stayed in the dirt.”

Renteria spoke with Anderson in the clubhouse and described him as “fine” and “OK.” The results of the X-rays gave the manager a sense of relief that they didn’t reveal anything more severe.

“Like most [injuries], I think your heart falls down to your feet because you’re not really sure what’s going on,” Renteria said. “But helping him off and then them seeing him and evaluating it, obviously nothing’s broken, things of that nature, which is a good thing. And we’ll see. Ankle sprains occur, and it happened to occur to him. We’ll continue to evaluate as the day or days go forward.”

The White Sox will wait for further tests before deciding if Anderson will go on the injured list. The team plays Wednesday and has a day off on Thursday. Meantime, Leury García and José Rondón are among the options to play shortstop. Following Anderson’s exit, Garcia shifted from center field to short and Ryan Cordell entered the game to play center.

“I have a couple of days to have a determination made as to what we’re going to do and how we’ll proceed,” Renteria said. “Hopefully I’m not thinking about that too much.”

At the plate, Anderson was 2-for-3 with a run scored and one strikeout prior to the injury for his 23rd multi-hit game of the season. He is batting .333 with two home runs, four doubles and eight RBIs since June 13.

Among all American League shortstops, he came into Tuesday’s game ranked second in batting average and fourth in slugging percentage (.485) and OPS (.823). He also was tied for fourth with 130 total bases. Anderson, who was named American League Player of the Month for April, had appeared in all but seven White Sox games this season.

“We've done it before,” Renteria said. “Not too long ago, Timmy was hit in the hand and we survived his three days being down. Everybody picked up the slack. We continued to defend. Obviously, he's a big piece to me because he can do a lot of things. He can defend, he can swing the bat. He can do a lot of things on the field. That being said, like most teams, things happen and the guys that you have have to continue to pick up the slack. I think just being consistent, just playing solid defense and having good at-bats and having to move forward."

Anderson’s exit was part of an already-shorthanded night for the White Sox. With the pitching staff struck by injuries, they turned to reliever Carson Fulmer for his first start since May 18, 2018. He pitched two innings, allowing one run off two hits and recording three strikeouts.

“Carson did a nice job. He kept us in the game,” Renteria said. “I know he probably [could] have gone with a couple of zeros, actually, but he threw the ball well. He attacked the strike zone, his breaking ball looked good, slider looked good. He did everything we wanted him to do -- throw a couple of innings and go through a pretty good lineup.”

Juan Minaya replaced Fulmer in the third and gave up two runs off three hits in two innings. Ruiz followed the next two innings, allowing three runs off four hits.

In addition, second baseman Yolmer Sánchez was unavailable because of a high-grade fever. Rondon started in his place.

The White Sox have a quick turnaround window in which to combat these injuries. Tuesday’s game was delayed 24 minutes because of rain, and they play again on Wednesday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. CT to wrap up the series. After losing four straight the White Sox are now 32-32 since April 14.