Absurdity was the name of the game on Tuesday night, as back-to-back-to-back second-inning homers led the White Sox over the Diamondbacks. The three longballs came from Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, and finally Colson Montgomery. From this point, game one of the weekday series felt out of reach for Arizona.
Murakami’s homer streak reached four games with his no-doubter to right, his ninth of the year. Finishing the day at 3-for-5 with a solo shot, two singles, and a walk, he now leads the team in RBIs with 17. Montgomery’s bomb was his third in three straight games, and followed a first inning double. The power for the trio has been unreal, with it also being Vargas’s second straight game with a longball, and his third in five games.
Beyond that, rookie Sam Antonacci collected his first big-league bomb off a great deal of confusion. His liner that barely went fair tipped off the glove of a Diamondback bat boy, leading Arizona left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to believe it was a dead ball, as he had seen it, but the umpires did not. Antonacci just kept on running till he reached home, where a throw from Gurriel went wide, after he realized too late that the play had continued.
After a review attempt, the umpire crew determined they couldn’t overturn it by rule, so the Springfield, Illinois native officially notched his first homer on a 57-foot liner. He also tripled home Montgomery in the first inning, all adding up to a 2-for-5 day with three RBIs.
The visitors produced everywhere, as Tristan Peters went 3-for-5, Andrew Benintendi got two hits, and Chase Meidroth walked and scored twice. Everson Pereira and Reese McGuire were the only White Sox lineup members without hits, but each earned a sacrifice RBI. For Pereira, his sac-fly wasn’t the only sacrifice he made, putting his body on the line for an unreal catch.
McGuire’s RBI came from a well-executed sacrifice bunt in the top of the fifth to extend the South Siders’ lead.
On the mound, McGuire’s battery mate Sean Burke collected his second quality start of the year. Burke lasted six innings, tallying only two earned runs, five hits, a walk, and three strikeouts.
Box Score
Next Game
Chicago duels Arizona twice more in the desert, including tonight’s game that starts at 8:40 CT. Anthony Kay will put his 2.60 ERA to the test against a potent Diamondbacks lineup, which was fairly quiet until late in last night’s matchup. The warming White Sox bats will face Eduardo Rodriguez, equally in his groove at a 1.97 ERA, though he allowed four in five innings last time out at Baltimore.
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Featured Photo: © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
