Jose Abreu belted a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning to help the Chicago White Sox to a 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre.
He deposited a 3-0 pitch from reliever Ryan Tepera (1-1) into the standing-room section of the 200 level overlooking centre field. It was Abreu’s second homer of the season.
Joakim Soria worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his second save as the Blue Jays’ four-game winning streak came to an end.
Matt Davidson also hit a solo shot for the White Sox (3-2), who salvaged the finale of the three-game series. He took Toronto starter Aaron Sanchez deep in the second inning for his fourth homer of the year.
After three quiet frames against starter Carson Fulmer, Toronto put runners in scoring position in the fourth after doubles by Justin Smoak and Curtis Granderson. Russell Martin’s slow grounder brought Smoak home to tie the game.
The White Sox pushed two runs across after an unusual play in the fifth inning.
With the bases loaded, Granderson jumped against the wall in left field as he tried to catch a rainbow drive off the bat of Yoan Moncada. His glove appeared to make contact with the ball and he caught it after falling to the ground.
The White Sox challenged the call as replays showed the ball appeared to hit the wall first. The out call was overturned and ruled a hit, allowing each runner to advance and giving Chicago a 2-1 lead.
Sanchez hit Avisail Garcia with a pitch to bring home another run before getting Abreu to ground into a double play. The White Sox put two runners on in the sixth but the Toronto right-hander escaped with another double play.
Toronto (4-3) pulled even in the bottom half of the inning.
Josh Donaldson led off with a single and moved to third on a double by Smoak. Left-hander Aaron Bummer came on but the Blue Jays countered with pinch-hitter Steve Pearce, who singled to score Donaldson.
Smoak tried to score on a Martin chopper but was thrown out at the plate. Kendrys Morales delivered a game-tying single that brought Pearce home from second base.
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Fulmer allowed five hits, one walk and three earned runs while striking out five.
Sanchez also gave up five hits and three earned runs. He walked two batters and struck out seven over six innings.
Setup man Nate Jones (1-0) got four outs for the victory. Both teams had seven hits.
Announced attendance was 17,268 and the game took two hours 56 minutes to play.
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