For White Sox fans whose aspirations for their 2026 team was "funbad," this game is for you.
Munetaka Murakami tied a rookie record, a White Sox record, and a White Sox rookie record for homering in his fifth consecutive game, and Colson Montgomery homered for a fourth straight game, making it the first time in MLB history that one lineup had two such streaks going. Poor Miguel Vargas only left the yard for a third straight game, and he didn't even finish with the most homers by a guy named "Vargas" tonight.
Meanwhile, Anthony Kay and four White Sox relievers combined to allow 11 runs on 16 hits, three of them homers. They also walked more batters (six) than they struck out (five), and Kay committed a run-scoring balk in his third straight mess of an inning.
If you watched only the top half-innings, you would've been immensely entertained. If you watched only the bottom halves -- at least the first seven -- you would've wondered why the headline failed to mention Reese McGuire's pitching appearance.
Alas, the Sox simply scored too much to allow a position player to take the mound. They scored early, taking advantage of Eduardo Rodríguez's control issues to race out to a 2-0 lead before the Diamondbacks came to a plate. They also scored often, with runs in five of nine innings, and Montgomery coming about seven feet away from a second homer with two outs in the ninth inning that would've made it a one-run game.
They had to settle for three homers across three earlier innings, but all of them maintained streaks. Vargas was first, opening up on a 1-0 fastball and hitting it about as hard (109 mph) and far (428 feet) as he possibly could, which narrowed the game to 4-3 in the third.
Montgomery joined him an inning later, launching the first pitch of the fourth out to right for another lefty-lefty success. Murakami then came through in the seventh, following Vargas' leadoff walk off Ryan Thompson with another soaring rocket to center. This one measured 110.2 mph off the bat and 451 feet to center, and it kept the Diamondbacks from running away with it.
The White Sox offense did a great job of counterpunching. It's just that the Diamondbacks kept countering the counterpunches. Kay had to strand a two-out triple to keep the 2-0 lead intact to start the game, but otherwise, the Diamondbacks answered every White Sox scoring inning before it came to a close.
Kay came out firing, averaging 96 mph with the fastball, but the location was lacking. He gave up seven hard-hit balls in the zone, and struggled to throw competitive breaking pitches out of it. Ildemaro Vargas walloped a 2-0 fastball out to left for a three-run shot that gave the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead in the second inning. A double by Ketel Marte and a single by Corbin Carroll made it 4-2, which meant the Diamondbacks never trailed the rest of the game.
Will Venable let Kay wear it, as he allowed eight runs on eight hits and three walks over 92 pitches and 3⅔ innings, and the strain was apparent on both sides of the battery. Edgar Quero unsuccessfully challenged a 0-0 pitch to the eighth batter of the second inning, meaning the Sox were out of them for the rest of the game. As for Kay, he gave up a one-out single to Carroll in the fourth, allowed two easy stolen bases, then balked him home by not stepping off correctly.
The only solace was that Jordan Hicks, Bryan Hudson, Lucas Sims and Sean Newcomb all failed to make easy work of their innings, as the Diamondbacks avoided being retired in order all evening.
Bullet points:
*The damage would've been worse if the Sox didn't turn a couple of tricky double plays. Chase Meidroth barehanded a high flip from Montgomery to turn two and end the seventh inning, and Montgomery was able to pace himself on an awkward 6-4 double play to strand a runner on third in the eighth.
*After averaging barely three runs per game over their first 19, the White Sox have scored at least six runs in six straight games.
*Murakami lost the first challenge in the first inning on a 3-2 pitch. It was otherwise a great night for him, as he finished 3-for-5. All three hits were over 100 mph, and the out was a 370-foot fly.
*Three Diamondbacks had three-hit nights, including a 4-for-4 performance from Nolan Arenado, who was followed in the order by a five-RBI night from Vargas.
*In his 1,169th game, Andrew Benintendi made his major league debut in right field after pinch-hitting for Luisangel Acuña. Tristan Peters previously pinch-hit for original right fielder Derek Hill and took over in center, and before him, Sam Antonacci pinch-hit for Tanner Murray and manned left.
