The Chicago White Sox ran into their first bit of really bad luck this season on Friday when slugger Munetaka Murakami strained his right hamstring and is expected to be out four to six weeks.
After three seasons of 100-plus losses, the White Sox are above .500 and contending in the American League Central heading into Sunday afternoon’s home game against the Detroit Tigers.
Murakami, a 26-year-old Japanese star who signed a two-year, $34 million contract in December, has 20 home runs to share the AL lead in that category. The rookie first baseman is hitting .240 with 41 RBIs, 44 walks and 43 runs while building a .938 OPS in 57 games.
“It’s tough, obviously,” Chicago manager Will Venable told ESPN. “He makes a massive impact on our group, on and off the field.
“He’s probably pretty down right now, knowing that’s going to take a different form here over the next few weeks,” Venable added. “This is what every single team deals with, and you’ve got to try to find ways to continue to put plays together and play well and play good baseball.”
The White Sox played inspired baseball in the first game without their slugger on Saturday as Edgar Quero, Colson Montgomery and Andrew Benintendi hit home runs in a 7-1 rout of the Tigers.
Murakami has a Grade 2 strain in his right hamstring after beating out a grounder Friday.
“My goal was to (play) the full season healthy, but that really didn’t come out well,” Murakami told ESPN through an interpreter. “But after this injury, I will recover fully, 100%, and give them all each and every day. I’m not going to be adjusting anything after the injury or nothing like that.”
Chicago has won four straight games, but Detroit has three losses in a row and only six wins in May.
“We just have to keep plugging and dig ourselves out of this hole,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “It just seems to get deeper every day. Nothing really matters now until the next day’s game. We have to do something better, and we have to block out a lot of noise.”
After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning on Saturday, the Tigers fought back to make it 2-1. They had runners on second base for three straight innings but could not score again.
“I don’t ever want to say I am out of answers,” Hinch said. “I know a lot of these games are rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, but we just have to start finding solutions.”
The Tigers will try to end the month on a good note Sunday when they send Keider Montero (2-3, 4.09 ERA) to the mound.
The 25-year-old right-hander last won on May 2, when he beat the visiting Texas Rangers 5-1. In his last start on Tuesday, Montero went five-plus innings, giving up eight hits, four runs and one walk with seven strikeouts in his team’s 10-6 home loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
In his career, Montero is 13-12 with a 4.47 ERA in 49 games, including 38 starts. He is 0-0 with a 3.97 ERA in three games (one start) against the White Sox.
The White Sox will counter with Sean Burke (2-3, 3.90 ERA). The 26-year-old right-hander last won on May 2, 4-0 over the host San Diego Padres.
Chicago has lost four straight starts by Burke, including Tuesday in his most recent outing, 5-3 to the visiting Minnesota Twins in 11 innings.
Burke was sharp, however, going seven innings, giving up three hits, two runs and two walks while striking out eight in 100 pitches.
He is a career 8-14 with a 3.88 ERA in 43 games, including 34 starts. Burke is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two starts against the Tigers.
–Field Level Media
