CLEVELAND — The White Sox had a lot of new faces in the locker room Thursday. Because of a rash of injuries, the team selected the contracts of outfielder Joshua Palacios from Triple-A Charlotte and catcher Omar Narvaez from Double-A Birmingham.
They put catcher Korey Lee, who sprained his left ankle in the sixth inning of the Sox’ 3-2 loss to the Guardians on Wednesday, and outfielder Mike Tauchman, who reinjured his hamstring rounding third in the ninth as he tried to score the game-tying run, on the 10-day injured list.
Lee said reducing the swelling is the “main priority.’’
“It’s bruised; it’s swollen,” Lee said. ‘‘[The ankle] doesn’t feel too hot, but it’s part of the game.”
For an already dormant offense — the Sox entered Thursday with the second-fewest runs in the majors, one more than the Rockies — those injuries are jarring. Lee was batting .333/.412/.467 with an .878 OPS. Tauchman had three hits Wednesday.
“[It’s] never a good time to lose your players, but [Tauchman] came back, and he was looking really good,” manager Will Venable said.
“[There was] just real substance to his at-bats and quality to what he was doing on the field.
“It’s gonna be one of these things that happens; we know every team deals with it, so we’ve got to push forward and figure out a way to pick up the slack.”
New faces
Palacios got the news that he was going to the majors at around 10 p.m. Wednesday.
His manager, Sergio Santos, told him to come to the hotel lobby downstairs. As Palacios approached Santos, he could sense the news he was about to receive.
“He let me know that I was getting called up, ‘Good job and go ball out,’ ’’ Palacios said. “He was saying, ‘I hope I never see you again.’ I was like, ‘Well, maybe, hopefully, I’ll see you in Arizona. Not never again.’ ’’
He then rushed to collect his belongings and pack. After finishing at around 1 a.m., he was ready for the Uber.
Palacios, 29, was batting .231/.421/.308 with the Knights. The New York native has played in parts of four major-league seasons, including 23 games with the Pirates last year.
Utility player Greg Jones said he was prepared to pinch-run Wednesday. He said fans can expect defensive versatility and speed from him. He stole 46 bases in the minors last season.
Jones and Palacios are likely to be brought in for specific situations. Narvaez, with 677 games of major-league experience, likely will assume backup-catcher duties behind Matt Thaiss.
Narvaez said it was beneficial for him to have played in spring training with the Sox. It allowed him to get to know the pitchers and their tendencies.
“It’s way easier, trust me,” Narvaez said. “It’s way easier to catch everybody that I caught in spring training. It’s not a lot to figure out, just keep watching them and keep in touch with them.”
Roster moves
The Sox needed to create room on the 40-man roster, so they released right-hander Juan Carela. Carela had Tommy John surgery in March.
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