CHICAGO – His presence in the White Sox rotation has been critical to the success of the 2021 club so far and will be once the playoffs come around in October.

So as August ends, the White Sox are not taking any chances for the ace of their staff as the postseason gets closer and closer.

Ahead of their start of a two-game interleague series with the Pirates at Guaranteed Rate Field, the team put starter Lance Lynn on the ten-day injured list with right knee inflammation, retroactive to August 29th. Middle infielder Danny Mendick has been recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take his roster spot.

Manager Tony La Russa labeled the move as precautionary, and the schedule lined up that Lynn would miss as little time as possible.

“It’s been treated and his pitched with it, but it continues to bother him and we just looked at the off days and if we do it now, we think we can take care of it, he’ll only miss one start, the one in Kansas City,” said La Russa of Lynn on Tuesday. “It’s precautionary, but it’s irritating, and if you’ve got time to fix it, let’s go ahead and do it.”

This move comes after Lynn completed arguably his worst start of the season against the Cubs on Saturday, when he allowed a season-high seven earned runs in five inning on five hits in a loss. An All-Star in July, the starter saw a drop in his numbers over the course of five starts as he sported a 4.67 ERA in 27 innings pitched.

Even with the rough month, Lynn is still 10-4 with a 2.59 ERA in 24 starts in 2021 and would likely be the team’s Game 1 starter when the reach the playoffs. That’s getting closer and closer to being a certainty as the club exits August with a ten-game lead over second place Cleveland with 30 games to go.