(670 The Score) White Sox star first baseman Jose Abreu found himself in the middle of drama late in his team’s 8-7 win against the Tigers on Monday afternoon.
As has been the case before, a plunking of Abreu is what angered him and the White Sox.
Abreu slid hard into Tigers shortstop Niko Goodrum while being tagged out at second base in the top of the ninth, igniting a benches-clearing incident in which there was shoving but no punches thrown. The hard slide came shortly after Abreu had been drilled on the left elbow on a fastball from Tigers right-hander Alex Lange. It was the 21st time that Abreu had been hit by a pitch this season.
"It seems they have issues when somebody plays aggressively but not when they pitch aggressively and beyond the limits,” manager Tony La Russa told reporters about the Tigers. “The game is played two ways, not just one way.”
La Russa declined to go into specifics about his multiple conversations with the umpires after Abreu was hit and after the benches cleared, but it was clear the White Sox remained upset afterward. Left-hander Dallas Keuchel, who earned the win, indicated retaliation could be coming in a matter of days, as the White Sox host the Tigers in a three-game series that begins Friday and which will close the regular season.
"We have to protect our guys, and (Jose) is no different,” Keuchel said. “I thought his slide was hard at second base, but it was a good slide. Now when someone slides hard into second base, it's taken into consideration. He was trying to take second base, so there was no ill intent. If I was pitching (Friday), I would try and stand up for (Jose) myself.”
Keuchel shed more light on what the veteran Abreu, the 2020 American League MVP, means to the team.
"The guy is the MVP,” Keuchel said. “What is it, 21 times he has been hit? That is a lot of times getting hit on the body. I myself have hit him before. It's not the best feeling in the world. He is a large human being.”
Keuchel was the only White Sox player who talked with the media postgame due to travel time constraints. Abreu didn’t speak to the media.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.