CHICAGO – Barring any sort of unforeseen setback, Lance Lynn will come off the injured list and face Cleveland in the series opener to close out the month of April this Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field. The right-handed starter has been out of action retroactive to April 17 with a strained right trapezius.

“Everything is actually feeling pretty good,” said Lynn during a Saturday Zoom. “The plan is to throw a couple of bullpens coming up and, hopefully, be back next weekend. With the off-days and the way everything is shaped up, we are going to give it a couple of extra days to make sure we are in a good spot.

“I’ve had similar things in the past. It was one of those things where we make sure it didn’t turn into anything crazy and we are kind of slow-playing it here and make sure it’s good to go, so we don’t have any issues going further.”

Lynn has a allowed two earned runs over 19 2/3 innings this season, with 27 strikeouts and two walks. He felt the problem during his April 15 start against Cleveland, and it popped up again during an ensuing bullpen. But Lynn plans to be on the mound Tuesday or Wednesday to get ready for that Friday return.

“It was more them telling me that we are going to manage it now,” Lynn said. “They’ve taken care of me and making sure we are being smart, and it was April 15th.

“If it was later in the season when we were trying to get things going, it might have been a little different story down the stretch for the playoff push. Right now, it’s a good time to make sure everything is where it needs to be.”

Kopech starts Sunday; Giolito pushed back
Michael Kopech will get the start in Sunday’s series finale against Texas, as announced by manager Tony La Russa following the Sox 2-1 walk-off win on Saturday. Kopech made his first start after four relief appearances last Sunday in Boston, allowing one run over three innings with four strikeouts.

The move to Kopech pushes Lucas Giolito back a few days from his originally scheduled start. Giolito explained the reason for the change after the victory.

“Unfortunately, I cut the top of my middle finger,” Giolito said. “I thought that a glass water bottle I had was twist-off, and it wasn't twist-off. And so I tried to do that, and I got a little nick right there.

“So just to be cautious, we've been covering it. It's been healing very, very well. But the team, everybody, wanted me to go back a couple days just to make sure it heals perfectly well before I pitch. But I threw a bullpen yesterday, and I've got another one tomorrow, and I'm sure it'll be fine. And then I'll be good to go Tuesday.”

Giolito did not receive stitches when the mishap happened Monday in Cleveland and was unaffected by the cut during his bullpen.

“I'm not feeling anything on that finger,” Giolito said. “I personally think it's in a spot where it's not even touching the baseball. But I'm not a wound expert. I'm going to listen to our training staff and all that. I'll be ready to go on Tuesday.”

Hendriks ready to go
Closer Liam Hendriks threw 32 pitches in his five-strikeout, 1 2/3-inning save Friday night, after throwing 40 pitches combined during his previous four outings. But the right-hander’s opening game workload wasn’t going to stop him from pitching Saturday, where Hendriks struck out two over one inning, but allowed Willie Calhoun’s game-tying home run with one out in the ninth.

“Listening to the Rangers broadcast, they were relatively hopeful I would burn myself out for today which is not going to happen,” said Hendriks before the game. “I come to the field every day ready to pitch.

“I’ll be ready to go in whatever inning they want me. I just stand out there and wait for the phone to ring. That’s all there is.”

La Russa said Hendriks, Codi Heuer and Aaron Bummer will be unavailable Sunday.

Third to first
• José Abreu needs one total base to reach 2,000 for his career. He would be the 12th player in White Sox history to reach that lofty total, with Paul Konerko leading at 4,010 total bases.

• Entering Saturday, Tim Anderson’s .332 average since 2019 is the highest in the Majors.

They said it
• “At the end of the day, you can look at any numbers, statistics, and come out looking very positive or looking very negative. For us, right now, we are somewhere in the middle. We need to do a better job of making sure we keep the score as it is when we come into the game. We need to do a better job of limiting certain things that go on, whether it be longer innings, high pitch counts.” – Hendriks, on the White Sox bullpen

• “The big thing is that he has an excellent work routine he showed all during camp and took into the games. When he started out 0-for-a-while, then you start trying to force hits. He's back into ‘If I do things right, the hits are going to be there.’” – La Russa, on rookie Andrew Vaughn, who entered Saturday having reached base in 10 of his last 12 games