The White Sox activated outfielder Eloy Jimenez from the injured list Wednesday morning.
It didn’t take long for him to make an impact.
Jimenez, who had surgery to repair a torn hamstring tendon behind his right knee April 26, homered in his second at-bat after returning from a minor league rehab assignment, a lofty shot that hugged the left-field foul poul and pulled the Sox into a 3-all tie in their game against the Twins Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Jimenez connected on a 1-2 pitch from Twins right-hander Joe Ryan with no outs in the fourth. With Gavin Sheets (single) on first base, Jimenez watched his high drive that topped out at 157 feet above ground clear the fence from the batter’s box, leaning to his right as it landed 357 feet from the plate.
It was the second homer of the season for Jimenez, who hit one in 11 games before suffering a hamstring tear April 23 that required surgery, and hit just two homers with a .246/.318/.351 hitting line in a 17-game minor-league rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte.
“Having Eloy back in there is exciting,” manager Tony La Russa said before the game. “Really looking forward to seeing Eloy in the lineup. See if we can start winning some home games.”
The Sox are 16-23 at home after combining to go 71-40 in 2020-21, the best record in the American League during that span. They fell behind shortly after the Jimenez homer when Jorge Polanco hit a two-run homer against Lance Lynn in the top of the fifth. Luis Robert tied it with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning.
The Sox also placed infielder Jake Burger on the 10-day injured list with a bone bruise in his right hand and place RHP Vince Velasquez on the 15-day IL with a blister on his right index finger. The team also recalled RHP Jimmy Lambert from Charlotte and transferred infielder Danny Mendick to the 60-day IL.
“Vince has had trouble with the finger thing, we’re trying to get that well,” La Russa said. “Jake worked a lot on that road trip [last week] ... he has some soreness, try to get that healed as well.”
The Sox are trying to avoid being swept by the Twins, who lead the Sox by 6 1⁄2 games in the AL Central.
Jimenez is a subpar defensive player but La Russa started him in right field with Gavin Sheets playing right and AJ Pollock, a former Gold Glover out of the lineup. Jimenez made a running catch in foul territory of Luis Arraez’ fly ball with two on to end the sixth.
“I have a lot of confidence in him and the people who worked him out to get him right,” La Russa said. “He did extensive work down there [in Charlotte]. Played in the outfield quite a bit. He did some work yesterday, [coach Daryl Boston] said he looked OK. Go by what we see. Today it makes sense to start him.”
The reports from Charlotte told La Russa that Jimenez’ plate discipline was good and that he was drawing walks and swinging at strikes. Jimenez had six walks and 12 strikeouts in 63 plate appearances at Charlotte.
“That’s where good hitting starts,” La Russa said.
