First baseman Munetaka Murakami enjoyed a career day Sunday to help the Chicago White Sox salvage a game in their weekend series against the Houston Astros.
The rookie will try to maintain that momentum on Monday night as the first-place White Sox host the banged-up New York Yankees in the opener of a four-game set.
Murakami powered Chicago to a 12-3 rout of Houston, going 3-for-5 with two home runs and a personal-best six RBIs.
The outburst stopped a 14-game homerless streak for Murakami, who continues to progress after missing 35 games with a strained right hamstring.
“It was going to come sooner or later,” Murakami said through an interpreter. “It’s not like I’ve been having bad approaches. I wasn’t hitting home runs, but the approach itself was good. It was all about being patient in the box.”
American League Central-leading Chicago smacked five homers in the game to stop a two-game skid. Miguel Vargas provided a go-ahead, two-run shot in the sixth inning while Chase Meidroth and Junior Perez also connected.
It was a welcome power surge for the White Sox as shortstop Colson Montgomery, the team home run leader with 24, is day-to-day with an injured right shin.
Montgomery missed Sunday’s game after fouling a pitch off that area Saturday night. He was sidelined Tuesday after sustaining a similar injury in a July 20 game.
“It’s not going to be a long-time thing. Just something we have to get ahead of right now so it doesn’t linger,” Montgomery said. “Especially this time of year, too, heading into the dog days of August. You don’t really want to be kind of lingering with little things.”
The Yankees learned of another high-profile injury of their own before losing 11-4 to the host Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night.
New York placed All-Star left fielder Cody Bellinger on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring. Bellinger is set to undergo further testing on Monday.
Fellow sluggers Giancarlo Stanton (right calf strain) and Aaron Judge (fractured rib) have been out since April 24 and May 31, respectively.
“We’ll have to do it a little bit differently, but we have guys capable of stepping up, coupled with the fact that we’re confident in our ability to hold runs down from the opposition,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’re going out there expecting to win.”
The Yankees had won five of six before falling to the Phillies, yielding double-digit runs for the first time since July 4.
Anthony Volpe, Ben Rice and Ali Sanchez had two hits apiece for New York, which fell three games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East lead. Rice hit his team-best 31st home run.
Monday’s pitching matchup pits a pair of left-handers as Yankees veteran Max Fried (4-3, 2.97 ERA) faces White Sox rookie Noah Schultz (3-7, 6.04).
Fried is coming off Wednesday’s no-decision against Pittsburgh. Pitching for the first time since May 13 after sustaining a bone bruise on his pitching elbow, Fried scattered one hit, one walk and seven strikeouts in five scoreless innings.
Schultz is 1-3 with a 6.50 ERA in four July starts covering 18 innings. He surrendered five runs and 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings during Tuesday’s loss at Texas and has allowed at least one home run in each of his past six starts.
–Field Level Media
