RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 3 sourcesThe Chicago White Sox had a Munetaka Murakami bobblehead giveaway promotion on Sunday.
“Excited for him to go out there and hopefully have a great day on his bobblehead day,” manager Will Venable said before the game against the Houston Astros.
Murakami obliged , hitting two home runs while collecting a career-high six RBIs in a 12-3 victory in front of 32,581 at Rate Field.
“I’m just really happy,” Murakami said through an interpreter. “To have a day like this, it means a lot.”
Murakami’s performance came with his parents in attendance. They both threw first pitches before the game.
“The last time my parents came, I was injured,” Murakami said. “Just being out on the field today and getting the results in front of them is really speechless.”
Murakami hit two of the team’s five home runs on Sunday.
“I thought it was great,” Venable said after the game of Murakami’s day. “He’s been having good at-bats, feel like he’s been getting closer and closer to tapping into some of that slug. Obviously he did today, which was great to see. And really up and down the lineup, really good day offensively.”
Miguel Vargas (two-run), Chase Meidroth (solo) and Junior Perez (two-run) also homered as the first-place Sox (55-49) opened up a 2 1/2 game lead in the American League Central over the Cleveland Guardians (54-53), who lost 1-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Murakami had not homered in his previous 13 games, a stretch of 42 at-bats. Sunday marked his first home runs since May 27 against the Minnesota Twins . He went on the injured list on May 30 with a right hamstring strain . He returned on July 10 and had one RBI in that game against the Athletics, but hadn’t had another until Sunday.
He more than made up for lost time in both categories on Sunday.
“It’s just about the results,” Murakami said. “It was going to come sooner or later.”
Murakami launched a two-run home run in the first inning, giving the Sox a 2-1 lead.
Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña homered in the third inning, his second of the game, to tie the score.
The Sox went back ahead when Drew Romo scored on a Murakami grounder to second base in the bottom of the third.
“Every one of his at-bats today were huge,” Venable said. “That’s what it takes, if you’re not hitting the ball out of the ballpark on that at-bat, there’s ways to contribute even if you’re not driving in runs or getting a hit.”
Sox right fielder Braden Montgomery prevented a home run, robbing LaMonte Wade Jr. with a leaping catch at the wall in the fourth inning.
“Awesome dude, I love those,” said Sox starter Erick Fedde, who allowed three runs on five hits with two strikeouts and one walk in 4 1/3 innings. “Obviously big moment, saving runs is huge. Braden’s been great in right field. He’s shown a lot of poise for a rookie and just been a big part and a big addition to the club.”
The Astros pulled even with a home run by Taylor Trammell leading off the fifth, but the Sox broke the tie in the sixth with the two-run home run by Vargas, his 22nd of the season.
“Just trying to score the run,” Vargas said. “The at-bat before, I left a runner out there. Just tried to do a better job in the next at-bat and just got lucky.”
Meidroth’s home run leading off the seventh began a four-run inning which stretched the lead to 9-3. That inning included a two-run single by Murakami.
Perez hit a two-run home run in the ninth, followed by Murakami’s second home run of the game — and 22nd of the season.
“It’s just Mune being Mune,” Vargas said. “We all knew that whenever he came back he was going to be able to help the team and that’s what he does.”
It’s the sixth time this season the Sox have hit back-to-back home runs. And they salvaged the finale of the three-game series by hitting five home runs in a game for the third time this season.
“It was a disappointing two games,” Murakami said of the losses on Friday and Saturday . “So I was really happy I was able to contribute.”
The Sox have their largest lead in the division ahead of a four-game series against the New York Yankees, which begins on Monday at Rate Field.
“Nice to be in that position,” Venable said of being in first place. “That’s great, but we’ve got the Yankees coming to town, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Try to do everything we can to get a win.”
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