Dallas Keuchel chastised his White Sox teammates in a Zoom with media following Monday’s lackluster 5-1 loss to the Tigers, specifically referring to some players going through the motions, subpar play overall and the “need to clean a lot of things up.”

But these pointed remarks from the veteran southpaw starter, who has a World Series championship and the 2015 American League Cy Young Award on his resume, had already been delivered in the clubhouse following the fifth White Sox loss in six games. Keuchel went to the players before he went to the media.

“That's the sign of a leader,” said White Sox catcher James McCann. “He's going to address how he feels and what he sees to the team and not trying to do it through the media.

“With that being said, he's exactly right. If you go through the motions, you're going to end up looking up in September and chasing the team in first place. It's even more important in September in a 60-game season. Does that mean you're going to win every game? No. But you have to have that sense of urgency.”

White Sox manager Rick Renteria was not part of the meeting where Keuchel made his comments, but Renteria also believes in players policing themselves, especially with this young core hoping to move from rebuild to contention. Keuchel’s words were well-received, but the real test is how the players respond on the field.

“It was really the first full-team kind of gut check. It couldn't have come from a better guy or at a better time,” McCann said. “Something that I always like to go back to when you talk about team meetings is the word family. When someone's not pulling their weight in the family, you have a family meeting. You sit down and you talk about things. That's the same thing with the team.”

“Somebody had to say it, and it was the right time for him to say it,” White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson added. “The guys get it. It’s OK. Hopefully, we go out and compete hard tonight, and hopefully it will light a match under some guys and get them going.”

Return of the champ
Anderson missed almost a month of last season and still returned to hit .357 over his last 53 games and win the American League batting crown with a .335 average overall. He has far fewer games to get his legs under him in 2020, but the shortstop sounded ready to go in his return from a strained right groin that placed him on the 10-day injured list until Tuesday.

“Through all my work, I felt great,” said Anderson, who had at-bats at the alternate training site in Schaumburg, Ill., before joining the team on its Detroit trip. “I’ve been seeing the ball real well. So we’ll see what’s next.”

While Leury García filled in more than capably this season at shortstop during Anderson’s injury, the team missed Anderson’s high energy as much as, if not more so than, his great ability.

“We just got to motivate ourselves,” Anderson said. “We have to find that thing to get us going. Whether it’s music or something, we have to find some kind of rhythm. Just be loose. We just got to slow it up. We have to think and not just play. Just have fun. We’ll have fun. We’ll bring fun back.”

García was placed on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left thumb, which made room for Anderson. García, who has three home runs and eight RBIs, suffered the injury while sliding headfirst into first base to beat out an infield single in the seventh inning Monday.

Third to first
• The White Sox six-game road winning streak came to end with Monday’s loss to the Tigers.

• Edwin Encarnación and José Abreu were both part of Tuesday’s starting lineup. Encarnación had been out since Aug. 4 with left shoulder soreness, while Abreu exited in the eighth inning Monday with right hip soreness after hitting first base awkwardly while running out a ground ball.

“He just got a stinger. It looks like he was at full extension when his foot hit the bag, heel to bag,” said Renteria of Abreu. “It kind of shot his leg up into his hip. Just a little bit of caution. He didn’t want to come out, but it was the right thing to do.”

He said it
“There's little things that end up being big things. That's kind of something that I've preached since I was young in the league. A lot of little things done well turns out to be a great season. You can't accomplish the big things without taking care of the little things, a lot of the little things that a fan might not have access to see, to be honest with you.” -- McCann