Chicago White Sox Provide Injury Update On Luis Robert Jr.

CHICAGO –– Center fielder Luis Robert Jr. remains out of the White Sox starting lineup for Friday's game against the San Francisco Giants at 6:40 p.m. CT.

He was removed from Wednesday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals after the first inning due to left hamstring tightness. Manager Will Venable said Wednesday that Robert suffered the injury while running toward a fly ball that was caught by right fielder Michael A. Taylor.

Venable provided another update before Friday's game.

"Still some soreness in the hamstring, day-to-day. Will be available off the bench," Venable said.

Robert has avoided a trip to the injured list for now, but the team will continue monitoring him before making a definitive decision.

"To this degree, yes. But again, taking it day by day and just seeing where he's at," Venable said. "We feel good about where he's at coming out of the off day, but knowing things can change. But yeah, we'll take it day by day and see."

Without Robert, Taylor is starting in center field, alongside Andrew Benintendi in left field and Ryan Noda in right field. Noda has only played first base and designated hitter for the White Sox this season, but he has nine games of major league experience in right field and two in left field with the Athletics.

"[Noda] is kind of a sneaky athlete, good base runner and a guy who moves, covers some ground more than I think I gave him credit for just looking at him and his overall profile," Venable said. "So yeah, just excited to see what he looks like. Seen video, I haven't seen it in person, but that was part of the attractiveness of acquiring him, is is defensive versatility and his ability to go to the outfield."

Mike Tauchman is in the lineup for a third straight game on Friday as the designated hitter. He suffered a groin injury on June 19 against the St. Louis Cardinals that caused him to miss four games. The White Sox are easing him back to action as the designated hitter, but he could return to the outfield soon.

"I think we're close here," Venable said. "He's had a couple trips on the bases that I thought looked good. Obviously, there's times where he's clearly guarding himself, but I think that's by design. He knows what he needs to do to make plays out there and stay healthy. I think we're close. I'm going to ask him every day here, knowing that we need him out there in the outfield to be able to do what we need to do."

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