Four for the Mune: Murakami homers again as White Sox’ power surge carries over to Arizona

PHOENIX — The Munetaka Murakami Experience hit a new apex in Arizona Tuesday as the rookie sensation blasted a tape-measure home run for a fourth straight game, and the first of three consecutive White Sox dingers ahead of Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery in the second inning of an 11-5 win.

Murakami’s ninth mash of the season sailed 426 feet and put him one behind Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez for the MLB lead in homers.

Vargas and Montgomery followed up with their own no-doubters — the second in as many games for each infielder — as a suddenly surging Sox offense shelled Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly for eight runs on 10 hits.

“We’re very much connecting from top to bottom in the lineup,” Murakami said via interpreter Kenzo Yagi.

The trio of four-baggers marked the Sox’ first back-to-back-to-back blasts since Sept. 19, 2020, when Tim Anderson, Yasmani Grandal and Jose Abreu went yard in order.

Montgomery ripped a two-run double to start the Sox’ latest offensive onslaught, which also included a triple and the first career home run for Sam Antonacci, a controversial inside-the-park grounder down the left-field line in the ninth inning. The ball appeared to have been touched by an on-field staffer, prompting the D-backs to give up the play, but umpires ruled it couldn’t be challenged.

“[I] saw no one was putting their hands up, so I just kept running,” the Springfield native said of a grind-it-out play that “exemplifies who I am as a player.”

Sox starter Sean Burke turned in a solid six innings, surrendering two runs on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts while enjoying the run support that has erupted on this West Coast road trip. The Sox have slammed 11 homers out of the park while racking up 33 runs over their past four games with Murakami leading the way.

“It’s just anyone,” Montgomery said. “Everything’s contagious, hits are contagious, good energy is contagious and I think that’s what we’re doing right now.”

Uptick for Hicks

Veteran reliever Jordan Hicks is throwing it harder with the White Sox than he has the past two seasons. But he thinks there’s still another gear in his rocket of a right arm.

Hicks has averaged 98.4 mph on his fastball over his first 11 outings since the Sox acquired him in a salary dump from Boston. That’s up from the 97.5 mph he averaged last year and 94.6 mph when he was a starter in San Francisco.

“Even though I’ve been chilling, like average 98.4, if I could find a way to get some 101s, some 102s, 103s, that’d be nice. But if not, I’ll deal with what we’ve got,” Hicks said before the Sox opened their three-game set with the Diamondbacks. “I’m optimistic. I think that I can still climb a ladder a little bit.”

Hicks became a household name with the 104-mph lasers he fired as a rookie in St. Louis in 2018. He’s only cracked triple digits once, on Opening Day, while pitching to a 4.91 ERA in 11 innings with a save.

Run, Mune, run

Murakami has introduced himself to MLB as a prototypical three-true-outcome hitter, with an overwhelming propensity for either walking, striking out or hitting jaw-dropping dingers. But the rookie sensation would like to sprinkle in a few other outcomes on the basepaths.

“I may be slowing him down a little bit on the bases. He always wants to get out there and steal some bases,” manager Will Venable laughed before the series opener in Arizona. “We’ll see how that goes.”

Murakami got picked off after a brain fart last week when he lost track of the count and wandered off first against the Rays. But the 6-2, 213-lb slugger has flashed some wheels, legging out an infield single Tuesday.

“I think Will thinks I’m a bit slow on the feet, so I’m just going to try to tell him that I can kind of run fast,” Murakami said.

Braden bashing

The Sox’ No. 1-rated prospect, Braden Montgomery, was named the Southern League Player of the Week after a torrid 12-for-20 stretch at Double-A Birmingham, slashing .600/.640/1.200 with five doubles, two triples a homer and seven RBI.

After a tough first week of the season with the Barons, Montgomery has owned Southern League pitching to a .358/.456/.755 line in 15 games played mostly in center field.

The Sox haven’t been shy about calling up prospects to majors directly from Double-A, as they did last season with power reliever Grant Taylor.