Chicago White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez is day-to-day after getting hit in the right knee by a foul ball while sitting in the visitor's dugout during the second inning of Tuesday's game against the Oakland Athletics.
Jimenez, 24, has a "significant" bone bruise, according to manager Tony La Russa.
"He got smoked," La Russa said Wednesday afternoon. "The X-rays showed nothing except a bone bruise, which is just painful."
Jimenez, 24, went to the ground clutching his knee after teammate Andrew Vaughn fouled the ball into the dugout. He stayed in the game for several innings, even sliding into home in the top of the fifth, but eventually he had to leave. La Russa doesn't believe running the bases aggravated the injury.
Jimenez missed nearly four months of the season after tearing his left pectoral during spring training. The White Sox are hopeful he can play Thursday but aren't counting on it.
"It was scary," Jimenez said in his media availability Wednesday. "But as soon as I found out it's just a bone bruise, I was OK."
Jimenez is hitting .269 with eight home runs in 35 games this season.
"Have to get the inflammation down," La Russa said. "Fingers crossed tomorrow. I'd be pleasantly surprised if he plays.
"He's getting a lot of treatment. We have a big game tomorrow with a left-handed pitcher."
The dugouts at the Oakland Coliseum don't provide any layer of protection like some others around the league. La Russa, who managed in Oakland from 1986 to 1995, said he hasn't seen many injuries caused directly by getting hit by a foul ball as there is a long distance from home plate to the dugouts.
"Sometimes on the ricochet," La Russa said. "Two more games here. Guys will be ready to protect."