ANDREW SELIGMAN
AP Sports Writer
CHICAGO (AP) — The Minnesota Twins did all they could to hand Chris Sale a rare loss. The problem was they had no answer for Jose Abreu.
The Cuban slugger reached base five times while extending his hitting streak to 21 games, and the Chicago White Sox scored four runs in the eighth inning to beat the Twins 10-8 on Friday night.
“You score eight runs with (Sale) starting the ballgame, Las Vegas would take those odds that you’re probably going to win the ballgame,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said.
Well, not this time.
Abreu had three singles, scored twice and drove in a run. He also walked and was hit by a pitch.
The 21-game hitting streak is the longest by a White Sox player since Carlos Lee’s club-record run of 28 in 2004. And if that’s not impressive enough, here’s another stat — Abreu has reached base in 10 straight plate appearances. No White Sox player has done that since Frank Thomas set a team mark of 15 in 1997.
“His plate coverage is unreal,” said Casey Fien, who took the loss in relief. “He can cover the inside and he can cover the outside, so you’ve definitely got to make your pitches with him.”
Paul Konerko and Alexei Ramirez delivered consecutive RBI singles in the eighth to give Chicago an 8-7 lead. Tyler Flowers added a run-scoring single in the inning after hitting a solo homer earlier in the game. Alejandro De Aza capped the decisive rally with another RBI single, and the White Sox overcame a shaky start by Sale to win for the sixth time in eight games.
The Twins had the bases loaded with no outs in the ninth against Jake Petricka when Kurt Suzuki drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder. But Petricka struck out Kennys Vargas and Oswaldo Arcia for his seventh save in eight chances, ending a game that lasted 3 hours, 47 minutes.
“We had a lot of good things happen tonight except the end,” Gardenhire said.
The teams combined for 31 hits — 17 for Chicago — and spent most of the game trading leads.
The Twins went up 7-6 in the top half of the eighth on a solo homer by Chris Parmelee off Eric Surkamp, only to have the White Sox answer in a big way in the bottom half.
That rally made a winner of Javy Guerra (1-2), who retired the final two batters in the eighth.
Sale gave up a season-high tying five runs and eight hits over six innings.
Minnesota’s Logan Darnell lasted just four innings in his second major league start, allowing four runs and five hits in five innings. He walked four after getting roughed up by the White Sox last Saturday.
ON DECK
The White Sox send Scott Carroll (4-6, 4.29) to the mound with Yohan Pino (1-3, 4.38) pitching for Minnesota.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: First baseman Joe Mauer (strained right oblique) and starter Ricky Nolasco (sore right elbow) are scheduled to begin minor league rehab stints next week.
White Sox: Pitching coach Don Cooper rejoined the team after missing 11 games because of vertigo. General manager Rick Hahn had some burn marks on the right side of his face stemming from an accident with a new fire pit at his house on Monday night.
SUCCESS AGAINST WHITE SOX
Suzuki is 17 for 38 with 10 RBIs in 10 games against Chicago this season after picking up two hits and driving in a run. Trevor Plouffe, who had three hits, is 12 of 30.
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