OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — White Sox left fielder Eloy Jiménez severely bruised his right knee when he was hit by a foul ball while sitting in the dugout during the second inning of a game at Oakland on Tuesday night and is day to day.
Jiménez stayed in the game initially before a slide into home plate in the fifth increased his knee pain, prompting him to leave what turned into a 6-3 victory.
“I was paying attention to the game. I never expected a foul ball coming into my knee, it was crazy,” Jiménez said a day later, able to laugh about it.
X-rays were negative but Jiménez was held of Chicago's lineup Wednesday night. He didn’t test it out, saying, “today’s just rest.”
“He’s got a significant bone bruise there, but the X-ray was negative so it’s just real sore. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” manager Tony La Russa said. “It takes a while for it to bark. He slid, he felt it, but it was sore already.
"But it’s just like if something’s sore, you hit it again, it hurts again. If it was going to stiffen up more, that’s why sometimes you get a guy out right away and put ice on it.”
Jiménez had surgery in late March for a ruptured left pectoral muscle and was sidelined four months before making his season debut July 26.
“It was a little bit scary, but as soon as I found it was just a bone bruise, it was OK. I know I’ve been through a lot this year but this is not going to stop me,” Jiménez said.
Jiménez had never seen someone get hit by a foul ball in the dugout before and hadn’t even experienced a close call like that.
“Things happen for a reason, but I don’t think it was bad luck,” he said.
He’s optimistic he will be ready for Thursday afternoon’s series finale with the A’s, saying, “I hope so, because I want to play and I want to perform this season.”
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