Abreu the difference in White Sox G1 win

A key component of José Abreu’s MVP campaign last season was his ability to cash in runners on base. Few in the Majors have done it as well as Abreu since he entered the league in 2014, and on Saturday afternoon, he cranked up his clutch factor once again.

Abreu knocked a pair of two-strike RBI singles as part of a three-hit day in the White Sox 7-4 win over the Orioles in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The last person the Orioles likely wanted to face with runners on was Abreu, the two-time reigning American League RBI leader. And yet there he was, in each of his first three at-bats, with a pair of runners on the bases. In the first inning, he muscled a hit up the middle to bring in Tim Anderson. Then in the third, Abreu shot a liner into right field to score Yasmani Grandal and Yoán Moncada, both of whom had reached with walks.

“Sometimes, RBI numbers are disrespected [by] some guys,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “It’s not easy being an RBI guy. [Abreu] gets them because he has great at-bats ahead in the count and behind in the count.”

Chicago’s four-run third made the difference, but every inning featured an offensive threat of some kind. The White Sox stranded eight runners, batting just 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position -- two hits courtesy of Abreu, of course.

That sort of production is nothing new for the 34-year-old, who now has 226 RBIs in 265 games since the start of the 2019 season.

Dallas Keuchel moved to 3-0 in his past five starts, but this one wasn’t pretty the whole way through. In five innings, Keuchel coughed up eight hits, including an uncharacteristic three home runs -- after yielding just two homers in his previous 35 2/3 innings.

“Two out of the three [homers] were really, really bad pitches,” Keuchel said. “I’m putting these guys in position to really take advantage of mistakes and/or hitters’ counts. … Thankfully, we scored seven runs and we got a win. But I didn’t put us in a very good spot one bit.”

For the White Sox, contributions from Abreu, Moncada (home run, two walks) and Jake Lamb (home run, single) put the team in position to win. Oh, and a perfect six-up, six-down performance from Evan Marshall and Liam Hendriks out of the bullpen.

“His breaking ball has really been effective,” La Russa said of Hendriks, who hasn’t allowed a run in his past 12 outings (10 2/3 innings). “I guess there’s a lot to deal with when [hitters] have to face him.”