CHICAGO -- There are still some days when Eloy Jimenez takes the field for the White Sox and feels like he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

But even on those increasingly more infrequent bad days, one of the game’s top young hitters still feels good.

“Most of the time now, I feel locked in,” said Jimenez after homering and making a diving catch in left field during the White Sox 10-3 loss to the Twins on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

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“I feel more comfortable at the plate,” Jimenez continued. “Now I’m recognizing better. I’m more patient.”

That patience of laying off offspeed pitches out of the zone, or chasing too many pitchers’ pitches, affords Jimenez more opportunities to hit pitches in the zone, while zeroing in on his pitch more frequently. He connected on a 1-1 fastball from Blake Parker leading off the ninth Saturday, giving him homers in back-to-back games for the third time this season.

Over the last 25 games, Jimenez is hitting .308 with eight homers and 22 RBIs. It’s a breakout that is surprising absolutely no one.

“He’s doing everything he can to get better,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “Trust me, this kid is gonna be pretty good on both sides of the baseball and I have no doubt about that at all.”

“I’m starting to enjoy the game more,” Jimenez said. “I know I can do that, and I can play defense and hit.”

Jimenez admitted to putting too much pressure on himself to do everything well right from the start of his rookie season. He received advice from his mom, dad, Jose Abreu and Yonder Alonso to simply relax and enjoy what he was doing.

Nobody really has to remind the gregarious Jimenez twice to have fun playing baseball. That comfortable approach is also reflected in his defense, with Jimenez taking away extra bases from Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco in the fifth on a diving catch in left-center field.

“Notably, if I had to think about when -- probably two and a half weeks ago or so, we started to see some improvement out there,” Renteria said. “And it’s big, because he’s working extremely hard to put himself in a better position to defend.”

That ninth-inning blast covered 433 feet per Statcast, and Jimenez is no stranger to prodigious clouts. But he doesn’t seem concerned with being part of the Home Run Derby during All-Star week -- at least not this season.

“If the time comes and I need to go, I maybe go,” Jimenez said. “But right now, I’m not worried about that.”

Nova not happy

When the White Sox acquired Ivan Nova from the Pirates during an offseason trade, the idea was to add a veteran innings eater in the middle of their rotation. That plan hasn’t exactly played out with Nova falling to 3-7 with a 5.92 ERA after allowing four runs on seven hits over six innings Saturday.

Nova is 0-4 with an 8.31 ERA in seven home starts this season and has now surrendered multiple home runs in four of those starts. It’s a combination contributing to the veteran hurler feeling less than pleased, even taking into consideration the Twins’ top-flight offense.

“It’s been a tough year for me, not only with their lineup, with any tough lineup,” Nova said. “Not good. ... Gave up four runs, but more importantly, we didn’t win the game. You can’t be happy about it.

“We keep fighting, we keep working hard right now. Hopefully we can turn this around.”