(Photo credit score: Matt Marton)
Munetaka Murakami went 3-for-4 with two residence runs and three RBIs and Sean Burke pitched successfully into the sixth inning, lifting the host Chicago White Sox to a 6-1 victory in opposition to the Colorado Rockies on Friday.
Chicago (83-77) moved inside a half-game of the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians (83-76), whose recreation in Kansas City was nonetheless in progress when the White Sox secured the ultimate out.
The White Sox, who on Thursday clinched their first playoff berth since 2021, maintain the head-to-head tiebreaker in opposition to the Guardians. Chicago gained for the fifth time in six video games.
Murakami linked within the first and seventh innings for the third multi-homer recreation of his rookie season.
The Rockies (57-103) have been restricted to 4 hits whereas dropping their fifth recreation in a row and falling for the eighth time up to now 9. TJ Rumfield went 2-for-4 with a solo shot within the second inning.
Burke (11-7) gained his third straight begin, delivering 5 1/3 sharp innings. The right-hander allowed one run and 4 hits with one stroll and 7 strikeouts.
Rockies counterpart Tomoyuki Sugano (12-12) matched his season excessive by tossing 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 5, walked none and permitted 4 runs and 6 hits, together with two lengthy balls off the bat of his Japanese countryman, Murakami.
Greeted by a standing ovation from a sellout Rate Field crowd, the White Sox responded with two first-inning runs to take early management. Miguel Vargas put Chicago forward with an RBI sacrifice fly earlier than Murakami drove a 2-2 pitch from Sugano over the proper discipline wall for a solo residence run.
The solo blast within the seventh gave Murakami a club-leading 35 residence runs.
Sam Antonacci had three hits for Chicago whereas Braden Montgomery added two. Kyle Teel (two RBIs) and Murakami offered insurance coverage with separate run-scoring singles within the eighth.
Chicago shortstop Colson Montgomery went 0-for-3. He was known as out on strikes within the fifth inning, his 224th strikeout of the season, a significant league single-season file. The previous mark was set in 2009 by Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Mark Reynolds.
White Sox relievers Hagen Smith, Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson mixed to pitch 3 2/3 hitless innings with one stroll and 4 strikeouts.
–Field Level Media