Abreu leads 17-hit attack for White Sox
He is still tied for the major-league lead with 31 home runs, but rookie White Sox slugger Jose Abreu has not hit the ball over a fence since July 29, a span of 15 games.
Everything OK?
"I see that as something normal," Abreu said through an interpreter. "To be honest, it's something that happened to me in Cuba. There'd be a time where I would hit home runs a whole week, a whole bunch of home runs. There'd be a time when I would, you know, cool off a little bit. So I see it as something normal. It's nothing to be concerned with, and I know I'm going to come out of it."
Abreu was bound to cool off at some point of the season, and in addition to the power outage, he was 8-for-39 (.205) with 2 RBI in his last 11 games.
If Friday night's showing in the Sox' 11-5 win over the Blue Jays at U.S. Cellular Field is any indication, Abreu is starting to heat back up.
He didn't hit any homers, but Abreu was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI.
All of his hits were singles, but manager Robin Ventura was very happy with Abreu's approach.
"They're done right," Ventura said. "You're looking at the professional side of his hitting. He does have all the power and I think everybody goes through a stretch where you don't quite have that feeling to hit homers, but in the first inning that's a big hit."
White Sox starter Hector Noesi (7-8) labored through the first and was lucky to escape allowing 1 run after Toronto had 2 hits and a walk.
In the bottom of the first, Abreu's run-scoring single set up the Sox' 5-run inning.
"To be able to do it like that, it's a good message throughout our lineup of how you're trying to attack somebody and stay through the middle," Ventura said. "Don't try to do too much; don't be the hero. I think that kind of went throughout the lineup of guys just trying to do what they can. You don't have to try to hit it over the fence. Just put it in play and good things will happen."
The White Sox had 17 hits, but no home runs. They also knocked Jays starter Marcus Stroman (7-4) out of the game with two outs in the first inning.
"He's obviously got really good stuff and the good news is, when we got him down we didn't let off him," Adam Dunn said after going 3-for-5 with 2 RBI. "We could've very easily got out of that inning and he pitches six or seven, but we stayed on him pretty good."
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