CHICAGO -- Alejandro De Aza and Gordon Beckham both were out of Tuesday’s Chicago White Sox lineup as manager Robin Ventura went with a slightly different look.
De Aza got the day off because he is nursing a sore left knee after fouling a ball off it in the sixth inning of Monday’s game. Beckham, whose struggles have lasted for more than a month, was getting a day to “recharge.”
“[De Aza] came in and at first we thought he was all right, then we went out to run and [the left knee] was pretty sore,” Ventura said. “He’s out of there.”
Moises Sierra got the start in right field, batting ninth, while Dayan Viciedo moved to left field. Sierra brings instant improvement on defense and also has been known to get hot at the plate on occasion. He has delivered two four-hit games since joining the White Sox in May, the most recent coming Thursday at Detroit.
Beckham turned over the second base position for the day to Leury Garcia, who will bat eighth. Tyler Flowers, who is batting .458 with 13 RBIs over his last 15 games, was moved up to the No. 7 spot.
Beckham is batting just .136 (14-for-103) over his last 25 games and .151 (26-for-172) over his last 44 contests. He only has three multi-hit games since June 11.
“I don’t know if it’s concern, but you see sometimes he’s hit it hard and not really gotten anything out of it,” Ventura said. “I think a day will be good to recharge, work in the cage, do what you need to do. He’ll be back in there (Wednesday).”
The just-concluded non-waiver trade deadline was believed to be affecting Beckham, who has been known to have dry spells at the plate that start to compound themselves.
Ventura was asked if Beckham has a tendency to overthink things.
“I think everybody overthinks things a lot, and maybe him to an extent,” Ventura said. “I think when you go through periods like this, a lot of players, I think you do a lot of that. I think you’re trying to figure it out and you can’t help but try and think about it. Sometimes it’s just better to still play.”
