MINNEAPOLIS — Center fielder Luis Robert left the game against the Twins on Friday with light-headedness, the White Sox said, leaving the team without its hottest hitter in its biggest series of the season.
Robert, who is day-to-day, was replaced by Adam Engel to start the bottom of the second inning at Target Field. Engel hit a three-run home run in the Sox’ 6-2 victory.
Robert was charged with an error in the first inning when Carlos Correa’s line drive skipped past him and went to the wall.
“They’re checking him out to see what it is; he’s in [the trainer’s room] now,” manager Tony La Russa said. “He was a little light-headed. We’ll see.”
Robert entered the game on a streak of three three-hit games, raising his batting line to .301/.332/.461. He hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in the Sox’ 12-2 win in the first game of the series Thursday and walked and scored in the first inning Friday on Andrew Vaughn’s single.
Pollock’s arm strength coming back
Outfielder AJ Pollock won a Gold Glove in 2015 when he played for the Diamondbacks and was nominated for one in 2021 as a Dodger without the luxury of having a strong arm. At 34, however, Pollock feels like he’s retrieving some arm strength probably lost after numerous problems with his right elbow.
“I’m doing what I can, man,” Pollock said. “It’s getting there.”
A year after being drafted in the first round in 2009 by the Diamondbacks, Pollock fractured his right elbow diving for a ball. He fractured it again in 2016 sliding into home, and, in 2019, he had surgery to remove metal hardware that was inserted in the growth plate in 2016. There were infections in the plate area, as well.
“The elbow wasn’t right for years,” Pollock said.
“But it’s weird. Sometimes I think I have a squirt-gun arm, but I feel like I’m getting it back. Now it feels like I having something behind it for the first time in years.”
Pollock nailed the Twins’ Gio Urshela with a throw from left field on the fly Thursday, denying the tying run and completing a double play.
Eloy unlikely for Twins series
Eloy Jimenez hit in the cage but isn’t running yet and isn’t expected to play until after the All-Star break.
Jimenez walked off the field after making a running catch in Cleveland on Wednesday. It’s the same right leg soreness that paused his rehab assignment at Charlotte, but he said he felt better the day after this time.
“I’m going to heal faster because I feel way better in my second day,” he said. “I’m already swinging.”
This and that
Yasmani Grandal caught Friday and homered for Triple-A Charlotte for the second time as he rehabs after going on the injured list with back spasms. Grandal was 8-for-17 with nine walks in six injury-rehab games between Double-A Birmingham and Charlotte going in.
† Shortly after announcing that Jake Burger (hand) would begin a rehab assignment at Charlotte on Friday, the Sox said the rehab was on hold because of illness.
† The game Saturday has an unusual 2 p.m. start after the Twins honor 2022 Hall of Fame electee Jim Kaat, who won 283 career games, including 45 with the Sox.
