Major League Baseball

Garcia homers, Abreu has 2 more hits for White Sox in win

Published Apr. 1, 2015 8:04 p.m. ET

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PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) Avisail Garcia homered among his three hits and drove in four runs, Jose Abreu added to his sizzling spring training with two more hits and a Chicago White Sox split squad beat the Seattle Mariners 12-4 on Wednesday.

Abreu raised his spring training-leading batting average to .518 (29 for 56).

Garcia and the White Sox are looking forward to getting the regular season started. ''I'm ready, and thanks to God I'm healthy,'' Garcia said in Spanish.

''It was a fastball high and away,'' Garcia said of his home run off Mariners starter James Paxton. ''I turned on it and it got out.''

Melky Cabrera added a two-run double, Jeremy Farrell had four hits including a two-run home run and White Sox second baseman Carlos Sanchez, who will be on the opening-day roster after a very good spring at the plate, had four hits and two RBIs.

Gordon Beckham went 3 for 4 with two RBIs for the White Sox.

''It's good to see what we did with a split squad,'' Beckham said, ''against a guy who's pretty good. It was good to get some knocks and do our thing. We'll definitely take a day like this, building momentum going into the season.''

Chicago teed off on Paxton, who'll be in Seattle's rotation. Paxton allowed seven runs on 10 hits in 3 1-3 innings.

''Just one of those days,'' Paxton said. ''It's going to feel good to get back to Seattle and get that real game-time adrenalin pumping.''

Seth Smith drove in Seattle's first run with a two-out single in the third.

BIG WINNER

Tyler Olson, a rookie left-handed reliever from Spokane, Washington, made the Mariners' opening-day roster. Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon has Olson's name on a board in his office that lists the 25-man roster.

''Take a look at the board,'' McClendon said when asked about Olson. ''Shows a lot of poise and the ability to get right-handers and left-handers out. Holds runners, works fast, throws strikes, fields his position. I said every year I'm looking for surprises, and he's a surprise.''

Olson, who'd never pitched above Double-A, has not allowed an earned run and has 15 strikeouts in 10 games (12 2-3 innings) this spring.

Starting pitcher Taijuan Walker is also on that list after posting a 0.36 ERA (25 innings) in six starts, though it's not official where Walker will fall in the rotation order.

TRANSACTIONS

The White Sox reassigned pitchers Jesse Crain and Carlos Rodon to minor league camp before the game. Rodon had a good spring, striking out a team-high 21 in six games (five starts) with a 3.05 ERA.

STARTING TIME

Mariners: Paxton dismissed his performance: ''If a game like this happens in Seattle, then we've got a problem,'' he said, ''but right now I feel good about where I am.''

McClendon said Paxton is trying to get his sharpness back after an injury just before camp began limited him this spring. ''I know it's coming, but it's not there yet,'' McClendon said.

White Sox: Scheduled starter Brad Penny was scratched due to illness.

TRAINER'S ROOM

White Sox: LHP Chris Sale pitched six-plus innings in a minor league game at the team's Camelback Ranch facility. Sale is working his way back after breaking his right foot on Feb. 27. He allowed a run on two hits with 13 strikeouts and no walks.

Mariners: Smith returned to the lineup after missing the past few days with a sore ankle.

UP NEXT

White Sox: The Sox break camp after Thursday's game in which left-hander Jose Quintana starts against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Mariners: After an off day, the Mariners play their final spring training game in Peoria on Friday with J.A. Happ on the mound against Colorado.

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