Abreu to slumping Sox: 'We have to believe'

CHICAGO -- The message from José Abreu, delivered through the media prior to Saturday night’s contest with the D-backs at Guaranteed Rate Field, presented a beacon of light for the fading White Sox.

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A little self-confidence can go a long way -- or so said the White Sox first baseman.

“If we truly believe we can do it, then we’ll do it. It’s just a matter for us to believe it,” said Abreu through interpreter Billy Russo. “We have been dealing with a lot of injuries and other stuff, but that’s baseball.

“We just have to believe that we’re able to do that, that we’re able to get into that really good stretch and compete. But we have to believe in ourselves.”

That push to believe from the team leader, expressed previously to his teammates, was followed by a 10-5 loss to Arizona, marking the third straight setback for the White Sox. It dropped them below .500 at 63-64 and left them at 2-8 over the last 10 games.

It was an ugly affair at times, marked by a near-miss comeback attempt in the eighth, and featuring reliever Joe Kelly leaving the game in the ninth with a bruised left knee after taking Jake McCarthy’s line drive off his leg. So it was fairly emblematic of what has so far been a disappointing season.

Thursday’s loss in Baltimore, where the White Sox were one strike away in the ninth from winning the series, was their most heartbreaking of the campaign. And as much as the White Sox try, it’s the sort of defeat that lingers well after Baltimore’s walk-off hit.

“You try not to make there be, but that was a tough loss there,” said White Sox right fielder Gavin Sheets of the Baltimore carryover. “As much as we try to put it behind us, it was a tough one.

“But it's our responsibility to go out every night and play hard and get these wins. So now all we can do is come out there tomorrow and get this win and go into the off-day and come back refreshed and really do some damage next week.”

Sheets gave the White Sox a 3-0 lead in the first with a two-out, three-run blast off Merrill Kelly. That lead disappeared quickly, when the D-backs (58-67) scored five in the second to take control. They scored six in the second off Johnny Cueto in a 7-2 victory on Friday.

This five-run second featured three walks and two wild pitches from starter Davis Martin, as well as a catcher's interference and a passed ball charged to Carlos Pérez in his first Major League start. It also featured Pérez’s first Major League hit via a single in the bottom half.

“I didn’t do my job,” Martin said. “Score three runs and the second inning, my job is to get three outs and get us back in the dugout. But starting with a leadoff walk kind of takes the wind out of the sails there. Just got to learn from it and move on to the next day.”

Those early negatives almost were erased in the eighth, when the White Sox scored twice and Eloy Jiménez connected on what looked like a game-tying two-run home run to right against Joe Mantiply. The blast had a 103.7 mph exit velocity, a 28 degree launch angle and an expected batting average of .810, according to Statcast, and it was caught at the wall by Daulton Varsho.

“I don't know how that ball didn't get out,” Sheets said. “Doesn't make any sense to me. I don't know what's going on. And that's a game-changing home run. Don't know how that ball doesn't get out.”

When a long drive falls just short such as Jiménez’s opposite-field blast, feelings of it not being the White Sox season begin to emerge. But with just 35 games left, the Sox still have to feel something can change. Abreu believes they do.

“Of course. If it wasn’t that way, we wouldn’t be here,” Abreu said. “I think we believe it, it’s just a matter of we have to keep believing it. There is a saying in Cuba that it’s not done until it’s done. Until that happens, we’re going to keep fighting and believing it.”