Well, that was some good old-fashioned fun. The White Sox blasted five home runs off Cubs starter Jameson Taillon on their way to an 8–3 win, evening up the Crosstown Classic at a game apiece.
The party got started in the bottom of the first when Miguel Vargas launched a three-run shot to open the scoring, continuing his dominant stretch against the North Siders. A couple of innings later, Munetaka Murakami kept the good vibes rolling with a solo homer in the third. The 391-foot blast just snuck over the glove of Pete Crow-Armstrong in what most thought was an inevitable robbery.
The long ball didn’t stop there. Two batters later, Colson Montgomery decided he wanted in on the action, wrapping a moonshot inside the right-field foul pole and off the suite windows. Noah Schultz’s reaction pretty much said what everyone was thinking on what was the longest bomb of Monty’s career.
And then Murakami wasn’t done. The South Side Samurai went deep again in his next at-bat for his second homer of the night. It marks the first multi-homer game of his young MLB career, bringing his season total to 17. He now sits in solo second in the home run race, just three off Kyle Schwarber‘s pace.
On the mound, Davis Martin looked solid the whole way. The team’s ace was dialed the entire evening, with his only blemish coming on a solo homer to Miguel Amaya in the 6th inning. He finished with seven strikeouts over six dominant frames.
PCA added a garbage-time homer to make the score look closer than it really was, but the Sox owned this game from the start. The bounce-back win sets up a Sunday rubber match in front of yet another sellout crowd.
W: Martin (6-1, 1.61 ERA) | L: Taillon (2-3, 4.97 ERA)
Box Score
Hitting
Pitching
Scoring Summary
- Bottom 1st: Miguel Vargas homers (11) on a fly ball to left center field. Sam Antonacci scores. Munetaka Murakami scores. CWS 3-0.
- Bottom 3rd: Munetaka Murakami homers (16) on a fly ball to center field. CWS 4-0.
- Bottom 3rd: Umpire reviewed (home run), call on the field was upheld: Colson Montgomery homers (13) on a fly ball to right field. CWS 5-0.
- Bottom 5th: Munetaka Murakami homers (17) on a fly ball to center field. Sam Antonacci scores. CWS 7-0.
- Top 6th: Miguel Amaya homers (3) on a fly ball to left center field for the Cubs. CWS 7-1.
- Bottom 6th: Andrew Benintendi homers (3) on a fly ball to right center field. CWS 8-1.
- Top 9th: Pete Crow-Armstrong homers (5) on a fly ball to right field for the Cubs. Michael Conforto scores. CWS 8-3.
Key Performers
Davis Martin: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR
The ace continues to do ace things. Martin finished the night throwing 62 of his 91 pitches for strikes, 15 of which were swinging.
Munetaka Murakami: 2-for-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R, BB, K
Mune found the perfect time to notch his first multi-homer game, officially etching his name in Crosstown Classic lore. It’s only right that we also give Mike Vasil and his magic wand the credit it deserves.
Miguel Vargas: 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
Miggy owns the Cubs. There’s no other way to put it.
Andrew Benintendi: 2-for-3, HR, 2B, RBI
Benny put together a solid night at the dish, launching the team’s fifth and final home run to comfortably put this game away.
Tristan Peters: 0-for-2, BB
Peters gets a nod here because of his unbelievable play in the third inning. He earned himself a shoutout on the main MLB account and helped set the tone early by taking way extra bases.
Next Game
The third game of the 2026 Crosstown Classic will go down on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. CST. Erick Fedde (0-4, 3.77 ERA) takes the mound for the Sox, while the Cubs go with Colin Rea (4-2, 4.68 ERA).
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Featured Photo: Chicago White Sox
