BOSTON — Chase Meidroth felt something wasn’t quite right with his right thumb a few weeks ago while with Triple-A Charlotte.
“I took a few days and it progressed and went away,” the infielder said Monday morning.
The issues popped up again recently.
“I’ve been playing through it for about a week now,” Meidroth said.
Meidroth was a late scratch from the Chicago White Sox lineup ahead of Sunday’s game with the Boston Red Sox, although he did appear in the final two innings as a defensive replacement.
Monday, the White Sox placed Meidroth on the 10-day injured list with right thumb inflammation.
“It got to a point where we thought the best decision for it was to shut it down a little bit,” Meidroth said.
Meidroth missed Monday’s finale of the four-game series at Fenway Park, which the White Sox lost 4-2 in front of 34,721.
White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon allowed four runs on six hits with four strikeouts and four walks in six innings.
“Got to throw more strikes, it’s really that simple,” Cannon said. “I thought the stuff was good when I was ahead in the count, no issues. Just kind of beat myself there in the (three-run) third inning.”
Cannon surrendered a solo home run to Rob Refsnyder in the second on an 0-2 pitch that was high and out of the strike zone. Boston scored three runs in the third, with Cannon issuing two walks in the inning.
Trailing 2-1 with one out and the bases loaded in the third, the White Sox brought the infield. Cannon got ahead of Kristian Campbell 0-2, but the count eventually went full. Campbell singled to right on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, driving in two runs.
“The home run to Refsnyder, good pitch, tough league, put a good swing on it, it is what it is,” Cannon said. “But it’s frustrating just kind of beating yourself in the third. Couple walks, then you allow those hits to become RBIs.”
Boston starter Walker Buehler walked three, but the White Sox couldn’t cash in. The right-hander allowed one run on four hits with nine strikeouts in seven innings. The White Sox went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position Monday.
Andrew Benintendi hit a solo home run in the eighth for the White Sox (5-17), who dropped three of four in the series.
Meidroth’s setback is the latest for the White Sox. While Meidroth had no issues throwing, which is why he was available to aid defensively in Sunday’s 8-4 victory, swinging the bat was the concern.
“It was tough gripping the bat with my back hand,” Meidroth said. “So it was kind of affecting it a little bit.”
He is slashing .269/.387/.269 with one RBI, four runs, five walks and one stolen base in nine games since being called up on April 11. Meidroth had three hits in Saturday’s 4-3 loss in 10 innings.
“I never want to come right up and get hurt right away,” Meidroth said. “It sucks. Win yesterday, have a little momentum building.
“But I know it’s a long season and this is the best thing moving forward for the whole season.”
In Monday’s corresponding moves, the White Sox selected Bobby Dalbec’s contract from Charlotte and transferred starter Martín Pérez to the 60-day IL.
Dalbec, 29, is slashing .326/.354/.696 (15-for-46) with three doubles, one triple, four home runs and 13 RBIs with Charlotte after signing a minor-league contract with the White Sox in January.
“Grateful for the White Sox giving me this opportunity and excited to play for them and play for Will (Venable),” said Dalbec, who entered Monday with a .222/.290/.425 career slash line with 47 home runs and 142 RBIs in 331 games during parts of five big-league seasons with Boston.
“Great guys in the clubhouse, excited to be back for sure.”
Pérez initially went on the 15-day injured list Saturday with left elbow inflammation. He exited Friday’s game against the Boston Red Sox after pitching three innings.
“He’ll be missing some time here,” manager Will Venable said of Pérez. “Still don’t know exactly how much. We know at least 60 days. He feels, I think, better than he did after the first day, but still too early to really speculate on what this timeline is going to be.
“So we’ll see here in the next couple of days what we’ve got.”
Bryse Wilson will be one of the pitchers called on to provide bulk in Pérez’s spot, although it remains to be seen if that will be as a starter or out of the bullpen. His first chance comes Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins.
That three-game series begins on Tuesday at Target Field. It is the next stop on the 10 games in 10 days trip for a team in search of consistency offensively.
“I thought our lefties really matched up well today, and had some nice at-bats against Buehler, just weren’t really able to get anything going there,” Venable said after the game. “A good swing by (Benintendi) there against (Boston reliever Aroldis) Chapman (in the eighth) to get us closer.
“But just couldn’t really string it together today.”
