Avisail injured in White Sox loss to Rockies

DENVER -- The White Sox can only hope they didn't pay too dearly Wednesday when they lost the rubber game of their Interleague series with the Rockies, 10-4, and two players left the field with injuries.

The Rockies rallied for six runs in the eighth, their biggest inning of the season and payback of sorts for Tuesday when the White Sox scored six in the eighth while winning 15-3. But where Chicago's uprising was a power display that included three home runs, Colorado's was a succession of six singles followed by a double.

Most of the damage came against setup man Ronald Belisario, who left the game with tightness in his right lower back. In the sixth inning, right fielder Avisail Garcia hit the ground trying unsuccessfully to make a diving catch, and left the game with a jammed left shoulder.

Belisario said his back was tight when he took the mound in relief of Scott Downs, who gave up a single to Justin Morneau, the only batter he faced.

Belisario said he has previously experienced back tightness at Coors Field, more so there than anywhere else. He said he had trouble finishing his pitches -- he threw 16, 11 for strikes -- as the inning progressed and the tightness in his back worsened. He faced six batters and gave up five singles before Jake Petricka came on and allowed a two-run double to Carlos Gonzalez.

Belisario lay on the floor of the clubhouse after the game while a member of the White Sox training staff stretched his back.

"I'll be fine," Belisario said. "I'll be ready to go tomorrow."

That may not be the case with Garcia. He will undergo an MRI exam on Thursday in Chicago. Preliminary X-rays for a fracture, separation or dislocation of his left shoulder were negative.

"Hopefully, I'm going to be in the field soon," Garcia said. "I feel right now a lot of pain, sore, too. Let's see what happens tomorrow."

Garcia was injured trying to catch a ball hit by DJ LeMahieu with two outs in the sixth. The White Sox took a 4-3 lead into that inning, thanks to Conor Gillaspie's two-run single with two outs in the fifth.

Morneau led off the sixth and reached third on left fielder Dayan Viciedo's misread. He broke in on Morneau's ball, which sailed over his head for a double, and then wasn't able to pick the ball up cleanly, allowing Morneau to take third.

LeMahieu, who matched his career high with three RBIs -- two on a single off Belisario -- was the last batter starter Erik Johnson faced. He left after the fateful low liner toward Garcia.

"I didn't catch it," Garcia said. "When I touched the ground with my hand, it fell out. I felt the bone in my shoulder [go] like crack, crack."

White Sox manager Robin Ventura said he didn't challenge the play because there was video proof that Garcia didn't hold the ball. Ventura said the umpires have "really taken it to the extent that you have to have your hand on [the ball], pulled out of the glove for it to be a catch. If he would've held onto it a little longer, maybe [a challenge would have been justified]."

Rockies starter Juan Nicasio labored, throwing 95 pitches in five innings while allowing four runs. Johnson also was inefficient, throwing 107 pitches, just 61 strikes, while giving up four runs in 5 2/3 innings.

"You're always putting yourself in a hole when you're working behind," Johnson said. "And I would've liked to have worked ahead, worked more 0-2, 1-2 counts today. The biggest thing you can do is keep the ball down and do your best to work ahead."

The final two White Sox runs scored on Gillaspie's single with two outs in the fifth that gave the visitors a 4-3 lead.

The Rockies scored a run in each of the first three innings. Charlie Blackmon led off the first with a triple, and scored on Gonzalez's single. Blackmon singled home a run with two outs in the second. And Nolan Arenado's two-out single in the third gave the Rockies a 3-2 lead.

The White Sox scored twice in the second when Nicasio gave up a one-out walk followed by a single to Alexei Ramirez, who took second when center fielder Blackmon made an ill-advised throw to third base, trying unsuccessfully to get Garcia. Tyler Flowers singled home a run, and with two out, Adam Eaton's infield single gave the White Sox a short-lived 2-1 lead.