Abreu’s homer means ‘happy flight’ home for White Sox

TORONTO — How’s this for a good offensive start? Shortstop Tim Anderson was the first White Sox player to hit three home runs and steal three bases through the team’s first four games.

Matt Davidson was the first to hit four homers in the first five games.

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Jose Abreu is batting .400 with two homers, including a tiebreaking 430-foot solo blast on a 3-0 pitch that lifted the Sox to a 4-3 victory Wednesday against the Blue Jays.

And the Sox lead baseball with 14 homers heading into their home opener Thursday against the Tigers.

“Happy flight,” is what it all means, Abreu said with a smile.

Happy feet is what Anderson might give the Sox, as well as some pop. He was hitless this game but batted .300 on the trip and is off and running on the bases.

“The legs feel good, man,’’ Anderson said. “I’m going to keep running.’’

And why not? In his career, Anderson has been caught only three times in 30 attempts. He was caught once in 15 attempts last season and really turned it on in September, going 9-for-9.

“The way I feel, nobody can throw me out right now,’’ Anderson said.

With the help of third-base coach Nick Capra, Anderson says he’s studying pitchers and “kind of knowing how to pick them apart.’’

“For the most part, I’ve been feeling really good, I’m getting good jumps and the confidence level is up.’’

Manager Rick Renteria defended the defense of his young shortstop, who led the majors in errors last season and has one this season to go with a couple of mishandled tough chances.

“He gets to a lot of balls a lot of people won’t get to . . . and he’s going to improve,’’ Renteria said.

But that offense.

“He’s running the bases well,’’ Renteria said. ‘‘He’s coming out of the box a lot better than he has in previous years, getting good jumps on the bases. He’s an explosive young athlete, an athletic player. I always pull for all our guys, but he can be an All-Star one day. I still believe that. He’s on his way to prove he’s one of the elite shortstops in the game.’’

Abreu, who connected against Ryan Tepera to break a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning, looks ready to have his fifth elite year in as many seasons. The homer was the sixth hit of the series for Abreu and his 126th career homer, moving him past Joe Crede into 14th place in club history.

He wasn’t overly excited about getting the green light “because I miss a lot on them,’’ he said.

Renteria hasn’t missed on giving them, as he’s 2-for-2 flashing it, including one for Welington Castillo, who delivered a go-ahead double on a 3-0 pitch Saturday against the Royals.

Carson Fulmer, working with a good changeup and cutter and good command, was effective in his first start, pitching five-plus innings. He allowed three runs, five hits and one walk and struck out five.

Trying to protect a 3-1 lead, Renteria lifted him after Josh Donaldson singled and Justin Smoak doubled to open the sixth inning. The Jays tied it with Aaron Bummer on the mound, but Nate Jones (1-0) got four outs, and Joakim Soria was perfect in the ninth, getting his second save in as many outings.

Soria struck out two, including Kevin Pillar to end the game.

“Fulmer worked pretty cleanly,’’ Renteria said.

“I wanted to get the best matchups coming up behind him and leave him with an opportunity to not only win that ballgame, but not let him lose that nice outing, leaving him very confident with what he did.’’

It was a good night for Renteria, who also challenged and won a review on Yoan Moncada’s deep drive to left that glanced off Curtis Granderson’s glove to the wall. It was first ruled a catch but was changed to an RBI single in a two-run fifth.