He had doubles in the first and fourth innings against Angels right-hander Matt Shoemaker — two of the Sox's six hits in the complete-game shutout — as he continued his resurgence after a tough start to the season.
But the Sox first baseman said before Saturday's game that he's far from satisfied with his numbers yet.
"I can do better, and I showed that," Abreu said through a team interpreter. "It's just a matter of keeping working."
Abreu went through a significant May rut this year, including a 22-game stretch when he hit .217 with one homer, seven RBIs, 23 strikeouts and a .552 OPS.
He recovered to hit .319 with 10 doubles, five home runs, 25 RBIs and a .864 OPS in 34 games in June and July before the All-Star break. His revival helped the Sox emerge from a 10-26 slump in the final few weeks of the first half. With his two hits Saturday night, his overall batting average has risen to .272.
"I learned a lot," Abreu said of his slump. "I learned to have more confidence in myself and in my routine. I reinforced my mindset about my routine, what I have to do to perform, do better and give the best of me to the team every single day.
"I wasn't executing 100 percent my plan and my routine. That was the difference. I realized that, and I'm trying to fix it."
The Sox entered the All-Star break with a winning record for the first time in Abreu's Sox career, which began when he signed as a free agent out of Cuba before the 2014 season. Abreu finds motivation in that fact given that his first half wasn't up to his own standards.
"We had too many ups and downs, and we battled through all the bad stretches, and we ended the first half with a winning record," Abreu said. "That's good for me because we had a winning record, but my production wasn't at the level I know I can produce. That's good because it takes some pressure off your shoulders, but it gives you extra motivation to do the best you can every day.
"The atmosphere is good. You feel the good vibe on this team. For us, our mindset is to fight to reach one of the spots in the postseason."
The Sox were trying Saturday to avoid falling into another rut to start the second half.
They entered Saturday's game against the Angels scoreless over their previous 23 innings. The Braves shut out the Sox on Sunday before the All-Star break, and the Angels pitched a 7-0 shutout Friday in the first game of the second half.
Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Friday the club's streakiness and its trouble with every division opponent but the Twins were the biggest problems in the first half.
"We've shown a lot of different looks over the course of this season already," Hahn said. "We have certainly shown that we have the ability to contend for a championship. We have shown we have the talent in that clubhouse. … What we also have shown unfortunately is a frustrating capacity to play inconsistent ball and also have trouble with the three teams ahead of us in the division in terms of our head-to-head matchups so far this year."