MINNEAPOLIS -- Tony La Russa was later than usual to his managerial Zoom session following the White Sox 8-5 loss to the Twins on Monday night at Target Field.

He was in the visitors' clubhouse focused on catcher Yasmani Grandal -- the team’s more significant loss of the night, after he departed in the sixth inning in significant pain after a checked swing produced a left calf strain and another key injury for the American League Central leaders.

“Everybody is really concerned about him. He’s on crutches in there,” La Russa said. “You saw his reaction. He’s playing [an] outstanding All-Star type of baseball and [it's] just really uncertain what the diagnosis really is going to be. Try to be patient and wait and see. Hope for the best.”

The game-time temperature was 94 degrees with humidity to match. So Grandal’s reaction of pure pain could have been a cramp in those conditions. But La Russa said that was not the case.

“It wasn’t a cramp,” La Russa said. “I wish it was a cramp.”

Grandal missed the last two games of the weekend series in Detroit due to left calf tightness. But there was no certainty as to whether there was a correlation between the two issues.

“[White Sox head athletic trainer James Kruk] is looking at it and I don’t think anybody wants to put two and two together until they’ve got enough information,” La Russa said. “We’ll have to wait to answer that question.”

So, what’s next in the White Sox catching situation? Seby Zavala was with the team in Detroit as a precautionary measure in case Grandal wasn’t ready to go Monday, so he will be back on his way up from Triple-A Charlotte to Minneapolis.

When asked about Yermín Mercedes as a catching possibility, La Russa praised Mercedes’ raw talent but said he wasn’t ready to make that step.

“Yermín has the tools to be an outstanding catcher. He’s got really good hands,” La Russa said. “He’s got one of the best throwing arms for accuracy you want to see, Johnny Bench-like. But he just lacks the experience of preparing the game plan and thinking through it.

“He needs to do that more. It seems like Zavala has a well-earned reputation for handling pitching. That’s what we need. We need the right pitches called. I think it would be to his and the team’s benefit for him to get that catching experience because he’s a very talented guy.”

Much like the White Sox have done all season, when the going gets tough on the injury front, they seem to get going. Trailing 6-1 in the seventh, the White Sox rallied for four runs behind a two-run single from Leury García and Yoán Moncada’s two-run triple. José Abreu also homered in the setback, giving him 213 career homers and putting him two knocks behind Carlton Fisk for fourth all time in franchise history.

Moncada was thrown out at the plate on an Abreu grounder to third with nobody out to thwart that rally, with Moncada stating postgame the contact play was not on and he simply misread the play. As a side note, Moncada returned to action after missing the Detroit series with a bruised right hand and still didn’t feel close to 100%.

“Days like today, I just try to do my best. I just try to find a way to do my job and to be playing,” said Moncada through interpreter Billy Russo. “I don't want to miss any time.

“I want to be on the field every day. That's my goal. I have to find a way to keep playing through this soreness or pain or whatever you want to call it. I just want to play. I know that I can do much better if I'm on the field.”

A separate story, or maybe two, would be needed to list all the major long-term injuries absorbed by the White Sox. The good news is that players such as left fielder Eloy Jiménez and center fielder Luis Robert are making progress toward a return, while executive vice president Ken Williams and general Rick Hahn are looking for talent additions via trades.

And even with three straight losses and a 5-5 run in their last 10, the White Sox have gained four games on the second place Indians to maintain a six-game lead. Losing Grandal is extraordinarily tough -- maybe losing the most valuable player on the team with all he does -- but the push to the postseason marches forward.

“Honestly, I just think we have to keep doing what we're doing,” said starting pitcher Dylan Cease of his team. “It's not like we're in the clubhouse before the game throwing a pity party or anything.

“We're preparing, and we're going out and trying to meet the challenge. With this, we're obviously not ideal, but we're not sitting here feeling bad for ourselves and we're not sitting here feeling any less confident. It just means that we all have to step up a little bit more."