While the Chicago White Sox’s power duo of Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery didn’t homer on Saturday night, their ability to hit the long ball has fueled the team’s longest winning streak in four years.
Chicago beat the host San Diego Padres 4-0 on Saturday night for its fifth straight victory and will go for a series sweep on Sunday afternoon.
Murakami leads the majors with 13 homers, and Montgomery is tied for 13th with nine. They’ve homered in the same game seven times in the team’s first 33 contests, the most by any teammate duo within the first 35 games of a season in MLB history.
“When you have guys in the middle of the order that are able to change the score with one swing, obviously it’s going to make a big difference,” White Sox manager Will Venable said.
Add Miguel Vargas’ six homers to the mix and you have three players teaming for 28 of the club’s 40 homers, which are good for a ninth-place tie in MLB.
Murakami, in his first season in the majors after playing in Japan, only figures to be more dangerous as he learns more about the pitchers, most of whom he’s facing for the first time.
“There’s still a lot of learning curve of the game,” he said through an interpreter.
Murakami and his teammates will try to provide plenty of run support Sunday for left-hander Anthony Kay (1-1, 6.12 ERA), who’s coming off a no-decision Monday in his team’s 8-7 home win over the Los Angeles Angels.
Kay permitted seven hits and four runs in four innings, walking two and striking out two. This will be his first career start against San Diego.
The Padres announced a change to their rotation after Saturday night’s game. Manager Craig Stammen said right-hander Griffin Canning would be activated from the injured list to make his first start of the season.
Canning, who was 7-3 with a 3.77 ERA last year for the New York Mets before suffering a season-ending ruptured Achilles, is 3-1 with a 2.86 ERA in four career starts against the White Sox.
Stammen said that the plan to start Canning on Sunday actually came to fruition earlier in the week.
“We just wanted to split Michael (King) and Randy (Vasquez) up a bit,” Stammen said.
Besides adding depth to a rotation that has battled injuries to start the season, Stammen also is looking for better, more consistent approaches from his hitters. San Diego has just nine runs in a four-game losing streak and was blanked at home Saturday for the first time this year.
“While there are some good at-bats in there, there are also some not-so-good at-bats in there,” Stammen said. “We have to figure out a way to stick nine good ones together through the entire lineup.”
The Padres are batting just .235 with a .307 on-base percentage this season, ranking 21st and 25th, respectively, in the majors. Their 29 homers are tied for 24th.
–Field Level Media
