Munetaka Murakami hit his majors-leading 13th homer of the season on Friday night, and the Chicago White Sox rolled past the San Diego Padres 8-2 to win for the fourth straight time.
Murakami’s three-run shot broke a tie with Aaron Judge and Yordan Alvarez for the MLB lead. Colson Montgomery added his ninth home run, and his blast in the fifth gave Chicago its 14th multihomer game of the season and a 7-0 lead.
The surge has come fast. Murakami has hit nine home runs in his past 16 games, and the latest one also gave him the most homers by a White Sox player through the first 32 career games. He broke the previous mark held by Jose Abreu, who set the standard in 2014.
That is the kind of pace that changes how a lineup is seen. The White Sox are not just winning games; they are getting power at a rate that has already pushed Murakami into the team record book and put him alone atop the majors home run race.
For Chicago, the next test is whether the streak and the home run surge can hold. For Murakami, the number to watch is now 13, with the rest of the league trailing by one swing.
