Yoan Moncada didn’t start Sunday’s series finale with Kansas City due to irritation in the back of his left leg. The question now is whether he’ll miss Monday’s opener against the Twins.
“I don’t know yet,” Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “We have to let him go through the whole process today and then we’ll come back to it and see where he’s at. We’ll know a little more tonight after he’s been treated up and things like that and then see how he’s doing tomorrow.”
The persistent issue flared up in the ninth inning of Saturday’s loss to Kansas City when he was removed from the game after reaching second on a throwing error by Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy.
Renteria said he hoped Moncada would be available for an “emergency” at-bat.
“He’s still obviously trying to play through that sore back of his leg,” Renteria said. “They’re still treating it so we’re going to see if we can give him a break, see if it calms down a little bit. He’s been doing everything he can to push himself to be out there. Today was probably the best day of any, if there’s ever a day and there’s never a good day for these guys to be down because you want them to be in there, so they’re going to be treating him up.”
Danny Mendick started at third in place of Moncada.
Giolito’s encore
Monday marks Lucas Giolito’s first start since throwing his no-hitter Tuesday against the Pirates.
He will be opposed by Rich Hill in the first game of the series, and Giolito will be looking to continue his success in Minneapolis. On Aug. 21 of last year in his previous start at Target Field, Giolito threw a three-hit shutout, striking out 12 Twins with no walks.
Of course, Giolito will be looking to continue his general success.
With the no-hitter, Giolito became the first pitcher in Sox history with 13-plus strikeouts and zero runs allowed in back-to-back starts. Giolito also owns streaks of 11 hitless innings and 17 scoreless innings.
And, for the record, the only pitcher to throw consecutive no-hitters is the Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer, who accomplished the feat in 1938 against the Boston Bees and Brooklyn Dodgers.
What about Mazara?
When the Sox acquired Nomar Mazara from the Rangers, they were hoping he’d add left-handed power to their lineup.
They’re still waiting.
Mazara entered Sunday’s game with no home runs and a .274 slugging percentage. In his first four big-league seasons, Mazara never hit fewer than 19 home runs and slugged below .419.
Renteria said Mazara is still trying to find his rhythm and timing, and working to get that to click.
“The more games he puts under his belt, obviously the expectation is he will come closer to what he’s capable of doing,” Renteria said. “But he’s been going about doing everything as well as he possibly can to give us some pretty good at-bats.Obviously, you haven’t seen the power that he has within him but he’s working toward trying to find that stroke and put himself in a good position.”
Gio goes down
To make room for the recall of Sunday starter Dane Dunning, the Sox placed Gio Gonzalez on the 10-day injured list with a right groin strain.
