CLEVELAND -- White Sox general manager Rick Hahn was sitting in the visitors' dugout with Liam Hendriks prior to the team’s doubleheader split with Cleveland when the closer announced he was good for one inning on Monday.

That announcement came after Hendriks picked up three saves Saturday and Sunday.

“I said, 'No you’re not,’” said Hahn with a laugh during a pregame interview session Tuesday. “He said, 'Nobody has ever done five saves in three days,' and I said, ‘Yeah, there’s a reason for that.’

“His response was something like, ‘I’m a peacock. You have to let my feathers flow.’ It was obviously tongue-in-cheek and he was obviously off-limits yesterday for the long-term [benefits], as opposed to the short-term accolades of five saves in three days.”

Why is this story important, aside from it being well-told by Hahn and producing another great quote from the fiery, humorous Hendriks? It points out one of the many players on the White Sox squad willing to do whatever possible to help the team win.

The cohesive clubhouse is one of the reasons why the White Sox have overcome injuries to left fielder Eloy Jiménez and center fielder Luis Robert to sit atop the American League Central even after this four-game set at Progressive Field. It’s one of the reasons why storylines such as Yermín Mercedes swinging at a Willians Astudillo 3-0 “fastball” with a 15-4 lead in the ninth and its ensuing shelf life can’t detract from this tight-knight squad with a singular purpose.

“They’ve had to overcome a lot, whether it be physical setbacks to some guys early in the year, to a rough schedule, to other distractions [along] the way,” Hahn said. “They, to a man, have stepped up and had each other's backs and been able to fight through it. That’s been impressive to watch.”

Having a veteran manager like Tony La Russa allow his veteran players to lead the clubhouse, as reliever Evan Marshall mentioned recently, is part of that successful equation.

“He saw that in spring, the combination of veterans and young guys was a nice mix to be able to let them police themselves on a lot of matters,” Hahn said. “They’ve had a good amount of success doing that so far.”

Hendriks did not pitch on Monday, as was planned. But Hahn respected his desire to win.

“If anything, you have to put a little bit of governor on him at times,” Hahn said. “We have aspirations to play for seven months, not just the next couple of days.”

Long-term plans
Hahn didn’t provide a specific update for the recovery process of Jiménez or Robert; when both players were first injured, it was mentioned that the first update would likely come eight to 12 weeks later.

But Hahn likes what he has seen from the pieced-together outfield in their absence, with special props going to rookie Andrew Vaughn in his first left-field foray.

“I don't think you can say enough about Andrew Vaughn and how seamlessly he's taken to that role out there,” Hahn said. “We obviously knew he was an athletic kid. We had him out in the outfield some in Schaumburg last year, so it's not totally new to him. But boy, he’s played a real solid left field and he's been learning that position on the fly.

“In terms of what it means for us going forward, I think as we've looked at these injuries, we wanted to initially persevere and try to avoid falling too far behind the division and see if our internal options were going to be able to do that. So far, they've been able to do that.”

Vaughn made a terrific tumbling catch to rob Jake Bauers of an RBI in the first inning of Tuesday's 6-5 loss to the Indians.

Hahn added that the team continues to work with what it has and monitor to see if anything else is available that makes sense.

“Certainly by the [Trade] Deadline, I'll be able to tell you pretty specifically, ‘Hey, this is what we're expecting from each of these guys [Jiménez and Robert],’ which will obviously influence our behavior at the Deadline too,” Hahn said. “We've got time on that one."

They said it
“You never really know how it's going to feel the first time back, but once I got back on the game mound and threw my warmup pitches, I felt like I was right where I needed to be. It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward, for sure.” -- Ryan Burr, who fanned two in 1 1/3 scoreless innings Monday in his first appearance since May 24, 2019, and completed his recovery process from Tommy John surgery