Eloy Jiménez Homers in First Game Back

After seeing his 2021 debut postponed by rain on Friday, Eloy Jiménez made up for his three months-plus missed with a dominating game at the plate for the Winston-Salem Dash in the opener of their doubleheader on Saturday.

His first at-bat was right size, wrong shape. With Yolbert Sánchez on first base with a one-out single, the Big Baby crushed a liner to left for a hard-luck out.

Leading off the third inning, Eloy just missed taking a ball out to right in his second at-bat; his luck almost reversed, as right fielder Jake Guenther stumbled and barely made the catch 10 feet in front of the warning track.

At 0-for-2 on the day, Jiménez broke through for his first hit of the regular season with a single to left in the fifth inning.

Finally, with two outs in the sixth inning, Eloy broke through with his first bomb of the season. Sánchez had just put the Dash ahead 7-6 with a run-scoring double. Jiménez then hit a screamer out to left to ice the game (a seven-inning, doubleheader affair).

Eloy’s final line was 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, with one let on base.

Jiménez sat out the nightcap (an 8-7 loss in eight innings), but Dash manager Ryan Newman said that the White Sox slugger would don his glove and take the field in left for Sunday’s game.

Trivia note: Is Eloy wearing is customary White Sox No. 74 with the Dash? Nope, he’s donned No. 29.