Tim Anderson has successful hand surgery on Thursday

KANSAS CITY – After the team lost their contest to the Royals on Wednesday night in another frustrating evening against their American League Central division rival, the biggest question for the White Sox came off the field.

That’s because Tim Anderson was scheduled to have surgery on his left hand to repair a sagittal band tear on the middle finger Thursday morning.

Per the White Sox, that surgery was successfully performed by hand specialist Dr. John Fernandez of Midwest Orthopedics at RUSH, Oakbrook Surgery Center.

As part of that update, the team also announced that Anderson’s initial six-week timeline to return remains, meaning the shortstop won’t return to the team until the last two weeks of the regular season.

Anderson suffered the injury on a check-swing in his final at-bat of the White Sox 8-0 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Park on Saturday. The team announced the injury on Tuesday along with the timeline for a return.

Losing the All-Star for an extended period of time is a blow to a club that is currently fighting for a spot in the playoffs for a third-straight season. Before their final of a four-game series with the Royals in Kansas City Thursday afternoon, the White Sox trailed the Guardians by 2 1/2 games in the American League Central division.

Anderson currently leads the White Sox in hitting with a .301 average with 13 doubles, six home runs, and 25 RBI in 79 games.

This is the second time he’s dealt with a serious injury this year, having suffered a strained right groin that kept him out the end of May and most of June.