Tim Anderson was helped off the field during the fifth inning of the Sox’ game against the Red Sox.
BOSTON — Tim Anderson has played like an All-Star in what has been a breakout year for the 26-year-old White Sox shortstop.
He talked about the possibility of playing in the All-Star Game in Cleveland, which was two weeks away, before the Sox played the Red Sox on a rainy Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
“That would be a big accomplishment for me,” Anderson said. “We’ll see what happens. That’s not going to make or break me because I know who I am. And shortstop position is deep.”
The potential achievement might have been jeopardized, though, when Anderson suffered a sprained right ankle during the fifth inning of the White Sox’ 6-3 loss.
X-rays were negative and Anderson will have an MRI and be re-evaluated Wednesday in Boston when the Sox close out a six-game road trip against former White Sox Chris Sale. Anderson, who was unavailable after the game, will likely go on the injured list, but with not enough time to bring up a replacement for a day game and an off day Thursday, the move can wait.
“Your heart falls down because you’re not really sure what’s going on,” manager Rick Renteria said of his reaction to seeing Anderson go down. “We’ll see.”
Anderson ranged to his left behind second base to field a J.D. Martinez ground ball and, while throwing across his body to first base to record the out, his right foot slid across the dirt as he made the throw. He went down holding his right ankle and shin.
The game, delayed at the start 30 minutes by rain, was played in rain for the first several minutes and the field was wet.
“It looked like his foot was planted and he made a throw off on an angle,” Renteria said. “I couldn’t tell if it was a factor.”
Anderson left the field with his arms over the shoulders of Renteria and assistant trainer James Kruk.
The American League Player of the Month for April, Anderson is having an All-Star-caliber season. He is batting .317 with 11 homers and 37 RBI after hitting a double and single Tuesday.
Anderson was coming off an 0-for-5 night with four strikeouts in a 6-5 loss Monday. On his deep drive off the Green Monster in left-center field Tuesday, he was thrown out at second base by center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. Instead of having runners on second and third and no outs, the Sox had Leury Garcia on third but Garcia did not score as Abreu and James McCann struck out.
The Sox (36-41) not only lost Anderson, one of the key pieces to their future core, but dropped their fourth straight game. They are 2-7 since Lucas Giolito beat the Yankees June 14 to bring their record to 34-34. They’ll try to salvage a game in the series without Anderson and ailing infielder Yolmer Sanchez, who went to the hotel with a high fever Tuesday and was not available.
On a bullpen day for the pitching staff, Carson Fulmer, Juan Minaya, Jose Ruiz and Josh Osich each pitched two innings. Fulmer started, struck out three and gave up a run that was unearned because of Anderson’s 16th error of the season followed by Rafael Devers’ short fly ball that fell in front of left fielder Eloy Jimenez near the foul line and bounced over his head for an RBI double.
An RBI single by Jon Jay in the second, and McCann’s RBI double followed by Jimenez’ RBI single in the third gave the Sox a 3-1 lead.
The Red Sox (44-37) tied it on Christian Vazquez’ two-run single in the third against Minaya and broke the tie in the fifth on Xander Bogaerts’ two-run homer against Ruiz.
