Chicago White Sox 1B Munetaka Murakami hits his 14th home run, tied for the MLB lead, in 6-0 win
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning on Monday, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 6-0 victory against the Los Angeles Angels in front of 26,262 at Angel Stadium. Murakami matched Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees for the major-league lead with his 14th home run, a two-run blast to center field against Angels starter José Soriano.
Vargas followed with a home run to right-center, his seventh of the season. It was the third time this year the Sox have hit back-to-back home runs, and Murakami has been involved in all three. Murakami, Vargas and Colson Montgomery hit three home runs in a row on April 21 at Arizona.
Murakami and Montgomery went back-to-back on April 27 against the Angels at Rate Field. Monday was more of the same from Murakami , who added his first career double in the sixth and a single in the eighth. Sox starter Davis Martin also had another dominant outing Monday.
The right-hander allowed five hits in seven scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 1. 64. Martin had a career-high 10 strikeouts.
He received run support early. The Sox took advantage of a pair of walks during a two-run first inning. The first two batters, Sam Antonacci and Murakami, walked.