Chicago White Sox ride Munetaka Murakami’s 2 HRs to 6-1 win and remain 1 back in the AL Central race
· Yahoo Sports
CHICAGO — Sean Burke wasn’t too worried about the Chicago White Sox bouncing back after celebrating clinching a playoff spot Thursday.
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“We’ve got a lot of guys who went to college on this team,” the starting pitcher said. “We know how to turn it up at night and then turn it back the next day.”
The Sox responded with a 6-1 victory against the Colorado Rockies on Friday in front of a sellout crowd of 35,778 at Rate Field.
Munetaka Murakami homered twice as part of a three-hit day. He drove in three.
“As (manager) Will (Venable) mentioned in that celebration, the celebration is yesterday and today we reset and then go after the division,” Murakami said through an interpreter. “That’s what we did and we really executed that.”
The Sox remained one game behind the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central with two games remaining in the regular season. The Guardians defeated the Kansas City Royals 12-9 on Friday. The Sox hold the tiebreaker advantage after winning the regular-season series.
“You look (at what Cleveland is doing) because it’s right there in front of you and you understand what’s on the line here,” Venable said of scoreboard watching. “At the same time we have things that we’re focused on and we have to take care of our business or else it really doesn’t even matter.”
For the second straight day, the Sox scored multiple runs in the first inning.
On Thursday, they scored three in the first on the way to defeating the Kansas City Royals 9-1 at Kauffman Stadium. They scored twice in the first Friday against the Rockies.
Kyle Teel reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a throwing error by catcher Hunter Goodman. Teel scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Miguel Vargas. Murakami followed with a home run to right field.
TJ Rumfield homered leading off the second inning, cutting the Sox lead to 2-1.
The Sox responded with one run in the third. Braden Montgomery singled, advanced to third on a Sam Antonacci single and scored on Teel’s sacrifice fly to center, giving the Sox a 3-1 lead.
Murakami homered to left-center leading off the seventh. It was his third multihomer game of the season. He leads the team with 35.
Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano allowed four runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five, including Colson Montgomery once — a major-league record 224 on the season for the Sox shortstop.
Murakami added an RBI single against reliever Juan Mejia during a two-run eighth inning.
“It’s right on time and it’s great to see,” Venable said of Murakami. “Obviously we know how impactful he can be when he’s right and feeling good.”
It was a good night on the mound for the Sox pitching combination of Sean Burke, Hagen Smith, Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson. The quartet limited the Rockies to four hits while striking out 11.
Burke allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in 5 1/3 innings. He enjoyed pitching in front of the large crowd.
“Our fans are unbelievable,” Burke said. “For them to come out and show us love tonight, and really the whole season, I think that it’s a joy for us.
“It’s part of the reason we are so happy we are playing better and turning this thing around, the hardship they had to endure the last couple of years. To see them buy into our team, fall in love with our team and to enjoy watching our team, it’s been really cool.”