April 23--For the most part, Robin Ventura has kept Avisail Garcia off the field this season, instead opting to DH his former right fielder thanks to some unforgiving defensive struggles.
On Friday, the White Sox manager opted to give that a rest, too, thanks to Garcia's bat, which has a .146 average attached to it, to go along with .226 on-base percentage and a .518 OPS.
Those numbers added up to a front-row seat for the team's opener of a three-game series against the Rangers at U.S. Cellular Field.
Sans Garcia, Ventura, citing matchup preferences against Rangers starter Martin Perez, markered in Jerry Sands' name on the lineup card.
"This is not picking on him, because we have plenty (of blame) to go around," Ventura said of his team's offense. "We expect him to do better and get off the slump he's on right now. ... We believe he's going to do that."
Ventura hopes others will follow suit, too. The Sox are batting .186 during their last seven games, six of which have resulted in two runs or fewer.
Garcia's struggles, the manager said, have nothing to do with work ethic and that he hasn't considered sending him to Triple-A for a refresher.
Jose Quintana (1-1, 2.55 ERA) will pitch for the White Sox (16-6) against the AL West-leading Rangers (10-6), who boast sons of three former major leaguers in their staring lineup (Delino DeShields, Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland).
Lineups are below:
Rangers
Delino DeShields, CF
Elvis Andrus, SS
Prince Fielder, DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Ian Desmond, LF
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Ryan Rua, RF
Rougned Odor, 2B
Bryan Holaday, C
Martin Perez, LHP
White Sox
Adam Eaton, RF
Austin Jackson, CF
Jose Abreu, 1B
Todd Frazier, 3B
Melky Cabrera, LF
Brett Lawrie, 2B
Jerry Sands, DH
Dioner Navarro, C
Tyler Saladino, SS
Jose Quintana, LHP
