TORONTO -- Jose Abreu doesn’t offer blazing speed, but it’s clear he’s faster than he was in 2014 when sore ankles slowed him down.
For the second time in two days, Abreu’s ability to leg one out gave the White Sox offense a big boost as he started Wednesday’s game-winning rally in the 10th with a triple to right. Abreu scored the go-ahead run on Adam LaRoche’s RBI single as the White Sox avoided a sweep with a 5-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
“Him and a triple don't really go in the same equation,” manager Robin Ventura said. “Maybe they do now.
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“He's showing some extra stuff to his game. He's got an extra couple of tools in the toolbox that I didn't know about.”
With the White Sox reeling from Josh Donaldson’s second home run off David Robertson in 18 hours, Abreu drove a 1-2 slider from Roberto Osuna down the right-field line. The ball smacked the wall and bounced back toward the infield past outfielder Danny Valencia, which allowed Abreu to turn a double into a sliding triple. On Tuesday night, Abreu just beat out a potential double play to give the White Sox the lead in a game they later lost.
“That’s him not just giving up and hoping it’s a homer and then staying at second because it’s probably a different inning if that happens,” Gordon Beckham said. “It was clutch by him and we’ve got guys playing hard. We’re not playing great right now, but we’re doing a lot of things trying to do it the right way and we’ve just got to keep busting our butt.”