JOHN JACKSON
Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — After not hitting a home run in 80 plate appearances, Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox now has gone deep in consecutive days.
The Cuban slugger cracked his 35th homer on Sunday to tie a White Sox rookie record, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a 6-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins, which snapped Chicago’s season-high four-game winning streak.
Twins rookie Trevor May struck out a season-high 10 in six innings as Minnesota snapped a four-game losing streak. Trevor Plouffe and Jordan Schafer homered for the Twins.
Abreu, who is now batting .322, had plenty of hits that stayed in the ballpark during the power drought to raise his batting average. Manager Robin Ventura said he wasn’t concerned the slugger had suddenly become a singles hitter.
“He’s a good hitter, so it isn’t a surprise that he hit a home run today,” Ventura said. “He’s been pretty consistent, just as a hitter. The power’s gonna be there. He went through a little stretch where he wasn’t hitting many home runs, but it’s there.
“Right now he’s as good as anybody in the league.”
The 35 homers are the second-most in the American League and ties the most by a White Sox rookie. Ron Kittle established the record in 1983.
“I’m happy and proud of what has happened, how I’ve played this season,” Abreu said through a translator. “Thankful to God that I’ve been able to play and work the way I have and accomplish some of the things I have this season.”
May (3-4) was staked to an early 4-0 lead, then hung on to win his third straight start. The 6-foot-5 right-hander walked none while allowing three runs and five hits in his seventh start and longest outing so far.
“Trevor may was good,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He had the one inning where he got himself in a little jam. Went out there and told him to trust his stuff and pitch off the fastball, and after he started doing that again, I think you saw him go right through them.”
Glen Perkins pitched the ninth for his 34th save in 40 chances, despite giving up Abreu’s homer.
Abreu singled and drove in two runs, giving the rookie 102 RBIs. Adrian Nieto also homered for the White Sox.
Hector Noesi (8-10) allowed five runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings.
Kurt Suzuki had two RBIs and Eduardo Escobar drove in a run for the Twins, who rebounded to take the final game of the series.
The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the second on Plouffe’s homer, his 14th, and Escobar’s sacrifice fly.
Schafer’s two-run shot with two outs in the fourth extended Minnesota’s lead to 4-0. It was his first with the Twins since joining them on Aug. 5 after being claimed on waivers from Atlanta.
May retired the first nine Chicago hitters, striking out five, before Adam Eaton reached on an infield single in the fourth.
The next three batters followed with hits to cut the lead to 4-2 as Abreu and Gillaspie drove in runs with singles.
Nieto cut it to 4-3 in the fifth with a solo shot.
The Twins added runs on Suzuki’s double in the seventh and his sacrifice fly in the ninth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: Rookie 1B-DH Kennys Vargas sat out his first game since making his MLB debut on Aug. 1. Vargas has seven homers and 35 RBIs in his first 41 games, but is hitless in his last three. “He’s had some great at-bats,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’ve been impressed.” … The Twins played their sixth game in four days.
White Sox: White Sox DH Paul Konerko said he hoped to return during the team’s nine-game trip that starts Monday in Kansas City. Konerko has been sidelined since Sept. 2 with a broken left hand. He has 439 career homers and will retire in two weeks after 18 seasons, 16 with the White Sox.
UP NEXT
Twins: Minnesota hosts Detroit on Monday with Anthony Swarzak (3-1, 3.95) taking on Tigers ace RHP Max Scherzer (16-5, 3.19).
White Sox: LHP John Danks (9-11, 5.05) is set to face Royals RHP James Shields (14-7, 3.13) in Kansas City on Monday night.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
