HOUSTON — Yoan Moncada had an MRI done on his hamstring Saturday, a day after leaving the White Sox’ 13-3 loss to the Astros with hamstring tightness. The Sox have their fingers crossed.
“Just not sure of the severity,” said manager Tony La Russa before the Sox played the Astros Saturday afternoon. “He was not as concerned but our [trainers] are. He has a certain history.”
La Russa and general manager Rick Hahn were waiting on results of the scan “before pulling the trigger” on a roster move, La Russa said. Leury Garcia, like Moncada a switch-hitter, had soreness in his side and was out of the lineup, and La Russa tabbed right-handed hitting Seby Zavala to catch starter Johnny Cueto, leaving the Sox with a right-handed hitting lineup against Justin Verlander.
There was hope Moncada will avoid a stint on the injured list but also uncertainty. Moncada’s hamstring tested OK for strength and flexibility, which is when he stayed in the game for an inning. But he felt something and was pulled.
“I don’t know what to think,” La Russa said
“When they got in the training room later on they went to a spot, so I don’t know. We’ll wait and see.”
Moncada has dealt with oblique, quand and hamstring injuries this season and was struggling at the plate before getting five hits including a homer and five RBI Wednesday in Detroit.
Pollock on a roll
AJ Pollock’s streak of seven straight multihit games came to an end Friday, but Pollock homered to right-center to score the Sox’ only runs after flying out deep to right center.
Pollock (.262/.296/.399) is batting .410/.452/.564 in that stretch. He was batting .216/.246/.333 through May.
“When things are going wrong there’s a lot of things going wroing,” Pollock said. “When it’s not going right you keep working and hope things start to click.”
The Sox as a team are hitting .282/.337/.414 over the last 26 games, raising their season average from .226 to .251.
“Hitting can be contagious in a good way and in a bad way, too,” Pollock said. “When you’re not hitting you can put everyone else’s at-bats on yourself. The trick is to do your job and swing at the pitches you want to swing at, be aggressive in the zone for yourself.”
Keen on Lambert
La Russa said right-hander Jimmy Lambert reminds him of a young Adam Wainwright, whom La Russa managed in St. Louis — high praise, indeed. La Russa won’t hesitate to use Lambert in high leverage situations.
“I’m very impressed, yeah that’s the fun part,” La Russa said. “You see the difference in last year. He got his feet wet. He’s actually making pitches with three or four pitches, very competitive.
“The key now is he pitches an inning give him a couple days, pitches a couple innings give him three days. Just don’t hurt him.”
This and that
Right-hander Davis Martin, who pitched five scoreless innings in relief of Vince Velasquez Wednesday in Detroit, is available as protection for starter Michael Kopech Sunday, making his first start since leaving last Sunday’s game against the Rangers with a sore right knee.
“If something’s wrong with Kopech get him out of there right away,” La Russa said. “[Martin will] jump in there.”
*The Giants claimed Yermin Mercedes off waivers from the White Sox and assigned him to Triple-A Sacremento.
