CHICAGO (AP) — Jose Abreu doubled and tripled early, then homered to cap a five-run rally in the eighth inning that vaulted the Chicago White Sox over the Minnesota Twins 9-5 Tuesday night.
Abreu hit his 18th homer, a three-run drive that sent the AL Central-leading White Sox to their fourth win in five games.
“(The game) had so many twists, so many guys that came through for us,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said.
Abreu connected off Hansel Robles (3-5) shortly after the Twins seized their first lead in the top half on a two-run homer by Jorge Polanco off reliever Ryan Burr. Minnesota has lost five of six.
“(The Sox) look like they believe they’re in every game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
Liam Hendriks pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save in 28 chances and secure the win for Burr (2-0).
The White Sox were held to one hit from the fourth until rookie Andrew Vaughn had a pinch-hit single in the eighth off reliever Jorge Alcala that made it 5-all. Billy Hamilton, who entered in the seventh as a pinch-runner, singled home the go-ahead run before Abreu homered.
“It was a great feeling,” Hamilton said. “Guys got a chance to do their thing.”
Yoan Moncada also homered for Chicago, his third in the last four games after going homerless in his previous 26 games.
Abreu hit an RBI double in the first inning. His triple skipped past diving left fielder Luis Arraez in the third preceded Moncada’s homer off rookie Bailey Ober.
“This probably wasn’t (Ober’s) absolute best outing,” Baldelli said. “But he kind of went out and dug down and got some outs when he needed to and gave us what was it, five good innings.”
“We’ll take that outing from him and we were able to handle it off to the rest of our guys at that point. That’s what we’re looking for. I was happy for his outing,” he said.
Abreu has driven in 21 runs in the month of July.
White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel, making his first start since July 9, pitched five innings of four-hit ball.
Michael Kopech relieved Keuchel but surrendered a home run to Josh Donaldson, his 15th, to start the sixth to pull Minnesota within 4-3. Kopech was bailed out of a jam in the seventh when left fielder Brian Goodwin made a diving catch to rob Nelson Cruz of a hit with the tying and go-ahead runners on base.
Max Kepler homered off Keuchel in the second to snap an 0-for-16 slump.
White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson went hitless in five at-bats, ending his hitting streak at 16 games.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: Arraez left in the bottom of the fourth due to right knee soreness and was listed as day-to-day. “He’s going to be on crutches just to make sure he’s not putting weight on his leg,” Baldelli said. … OF Kyle Garlick (sports hernia) started a minor league rehabilitation assignment Tuesday night for Triple-A St. Paul. Garlick hasn’t played since June 8, but Baldelli said the assignment will dictate whether Garlick can avoid surgery. … OF Rob Refsnyder (left hamstring strain) also was scheduled to start a rehab assignment at St. Paul. Baldelli said there is no timeline for a return on either Garlick or Refsnyder.
White Sox: C Yasmani Grandal (left knee) started throwing and took some swings. He underwent surgery after injuring his knee July 5 and is expected to be sidelined from four to six weeks, but La Russa was encouraged. “I’d leave it for the experts to say whether he’s on time (or) ahead of time, but there’s no way he’s behind time,” La Russa said.
UP NEXT
The Twins will send RHP Michael Pineda (3-5, 4.11 ERA) to the mound, while the White Sox will counter with RHP Dylan Cease (7-5, 4.15).
Pineda surrendered five runs on a career-high 12 hits in his last start July 7, a 6-1 loss to the White Sox at Target Field. Cease struck out 10 Friday but was saddled with a 7-1 loss to Houston at Guaranteed Rate Field. Cease was charged with three runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
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