Abreu: Short absence, long ball
Somehow, Jose Abreu started at first base and batted cleanup Saturday for the White Sox. And he hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, to boot.
A day after his scary collision with the Royals’ Hunter Dozier, Abreu was checked by team doctors and given the go-ahead to play.
Manager Tony La Russa said Abreu was eager to get back in the lineup after missing the second game of the doubleheader Friday and would’ve been inpatient if he had to wait until the series finale Sunday to return.
The only waiting occurred before the game. The Sox held off on releasing their lineup until they were certain about Abreu’s status. During a phone call to explain the delay, La Russa and Royals counterpart Mike Matheny concurred the incident was unique.
“We both agreed; I don’t think I’ve ever heard that kind of a collision on a baseball field,” La Russa said. “The fact that they are both going to come out of it without anything serious is really a stroke of good fortune. It was scary.”
A long-term injury to Abreu would’ve been especially frightening for the Sox, who are already without Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez for possibly the rest of the season.
Leury Garcia said witnessing the collision was tough for everybody, and they thought the outcome would be worse.
“But we know ‘Pito,’ what kind of guy, what kind of player he is, what kind of human, and he’s ready to go,” Garcia said before the Sox’ lineup was released. “I don’t know if he’s going to play tonight or not, but we thought it was going to be worse. And thank God everything is fine.”
Abreu appeared in his 998th game. When he plays in his 1,000th, Abreu will become the 29th player in Sox history to reach that milestone. He also will be the 66th active player to achieve that mark.
As for Leury . . .
Garcia entered Saturday with a slash line of .219/.248/.271 after playing only 16 games last year because of injury. But without Robert, Jimenez and Adam Engel (strained right hamstring), Garcia’s role and importance have increased.
He didn’t use last year’s lack of action as an excuse for his slow start and said he has been working on ways to get on base.
“I don’t worry about the past; I don’t worry about the last game,” Garcia said. “I just worry about the game that I play that day. I’ve been working — I’m still working — on my offense, and I think at the end of the day, I’ll be all right.”
Naming captains?
Baseball teams naming official captains is unusual, and don’t expect La Russa to break with that tradition.
La Russa said he has never done it because the season is so demanding, and he doesn’t want to give players another responsibility.
At the same time, he routinely throws ‘‘captain’’ around when talking to Abreu and Tim Anderson, as in, “Captain, we’ve got to get this one today.”
“Officially, I just, I never have thought that,” La Russa said. “The guys in the clubhouse know who the captains are and who the assistant captains are. That’s what counts.”
Reaching the mark
The Sox have reached the 85% vaccination threshold for tiered players and staff. Among other relaxed protocols, hitting that mark means all vaccinated Tier 1 players and staff are no longer required to wear face masks in the dugout.
On April 11, the Sox announced that ‘‘virtually the entire White Sox traveling party’’ received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after the April 8 home opener. At the time, general manager Rick Hahn said he expected the team to hit the 85% mark once they got more access to vaccines for players and staff then at the Schaumburg alternate site.