Major League Baseball

Konerko, hit Friday, eyes Tuesday return

Published May. 19, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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White Sox captain Paul Konerko is confident he will return to the team's lineup to take on the Twins on Tuesday after taking a pitch to the face during Friday's game against the Cubs.

Konerko sported severe discoloring and some swelling around his left eye as he spoke to media Saturday, one day after Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija hit him during the City Series opener, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"I'm probably going to be back out there playing long before it all goes away, too," Konerko said. "It'll probably hang around for a few weeks where you can see remnants of it."

Konerko said he has not experienced dizziness and knew Friday night the injury was not as severe as it looked.

"Once I knew that what I was seeing was the swelling, not something wrong with my eyeball ..." Konerko said.

"As soon as I knew that was the case, it really wasn't even that painful. You just know you can't see clearly out of it.

"It's more frustrating in that sense because at that point everything else feels great. There's nothing wrong with you, it's just kind of you have one eye and you can't play with one eye."

Konerko said the ball deflected off his helmet before striking his face. "I think the way the helmet came off, it definitely caught the visor, which I don't know if that helped or hurt," he said.

Speaking Saturday afternoon, just hours before the Sox were to face the Cubs again, Konerko had not yet spoken with Samardzija, who has said he did not intentionally hit Konerko and has expressed a desire to apologize personally.

Although Konerko said much of the swelling has subsided and he was keen to get back on the field as soon as possible, Sox manager Robin Ventura said it would be a "miracle" if Konerko could play Sunday, the Tribune reported.

The 36-year-old was cleared by the CT scan at Rush University Medical Center, the team confirmed.

Konerko, who had powered a first-inning homer to left field to give his team an early 2-0 lead, exited Friday's game following the beaning in the third inning.

The Sox went on to claim a 3-2 victory without their leader at Wrigley Field in what was Cubs reliever Kerry Wood's final major league career outing.

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