CLEVELAND -- The White Sox have played so poorly of late that Jose Abreu made up his mind he would play no matter what on Saturday.
With that in mind, the first baseman headed straight to manager Rick Renteria’s office to inform him he felt fine a day after he exited with a bruised left knee. Though still a little sore after Friday’s scary incident caused him to hobble off the field after he was struck by an Andrew Miller slider, Abreu said his presence in the White Sox is imperative. The veteran made that point very clear to Renteria, who knew Abreu was serious.
“Play him,” Renteria said of Abreu’s message. “It’s that simple. We had a couple lineups set up differently for the possibility of him not playing, and he came in … and said ‘I can go, I’m ready to go.’ He was wrapped up, but that’s him. He looks good. The one thing I always ask him is to be honest because I don’t want his ability to move or something to affect his performance out there, and there are some limitations that can come with it. But he’s good enough to go out there and play and give us what he has, so he’s playing first.”
Abreu admitted he was initially scared when Miller’s slider struck his left leg in the seventh inning on Friday. He hit the ground hard and stayed down for close to 90 seconds before struggling to reach his feet. Even when Abreu got up, he couldn’t place any weight on his left leg and hobbled off the field with the help of Renteria and trainer Herm Schneider.
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Afterward, Renteria said Abreu didn’t require any X-rays and had avoided a direct hit on the knee cap. The manager was also encouraged that the swelling Abreu experienced had already decreased with treatment and he’d be re-evaluated on Saturday. But Renteria was hopeful Abreu’s absence wouldn’t be a lengthy one. Abreu ensured that upon arrival at the ballpark early Saturday.
“It’s a little sore in the area but I have to play,” Abreu said through an interpreter. “We’re going through a tough moment as a team. I have to show up for the guys and for my team.”
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“We have to keep finding ways to keep working hard, to keep grinding. For the guys as me that have like a second responsibility on our shoulders just to step up.”
Renteria described the leadership Abreu displayed as important. The White Sox have lost seven of eight games on the road trip and open Saturday nine games under the .500 mark.
“The players are the ones that end up kind of owning a lot of things,” Renteria said. “Obviously we’re in a position right now where we’ve sputtered. Nobody is going to deny that. That’s a fact. But with the season as it progresses and everybody kind of gets the feeling and understanding the plusses and the minuses, even as they continue to get at times frustrated with their lack of performance, they’re learning from that too. And hopefully they build on that also and they move us forward and help us get out of it, and maybe we start to roll again.”