In his first two at-bats Sunday, and a pitch into his third, Munetaka Murakami did not look like he was ever going to figure out the slider of A's starter Jeffrey Springs.
There are worse failings to have. The man can't be expected to homer in every game, and Murakami wasn't signed because the Sox thought he'd crush left-on-left sliders.
Better yet, while the White Sox first baseman was still getting his bearings, Miguel Vargas and Derek Hill, of all people, had already staked Noah Schultz to an early 4-1 lead by blitzing some low-90s Springs fastballs for dingers out to left. And a few hitters after Murakami's adjustment to spin had taken center stage, Colson Montgomery had also bent down to launch a breaking ball off the batter's eye in center before Springs' five innings were done.
Murakami's second whiff at a slider in the dirt of the afternoon, both out in front and hopelessly above the baseball, really belied what would come when he saw the pitch for a fifth time. That, or Springs threw one in the absolute epicenter of the strike zone. Either way, it came after Vargas had already singled his way on to lead off the fifth, and Murakami holding his pose as his 114.1 mph two-run moonshot to right broke open a 6-1 advantage is the type of singular highlight that could neatly head up 15-second local news summary of the stress-free rubber match laugher this one had the potential to be.
That potential was not realized, as after Schultz departed with a 7-1 lead, a redux of Saturday's slow-burn bullpen meltdown lurked around every corner. Grant Taylor was blowing off doors for the first four outs of his long-anticipated series debut, but he hung a curve for a Tyler Soderstrom double before Darel Hernáiz working a 10-pitch walk really rattled his rhythm. No. 9 hitter Zach Gelof was the man to bring this game back to a save situation, lining a Taylor fastball into the right field corner for a two-out, two-run triple before Jordan Leasure came on and pushed him home from third with a slider that got under Edgar Quero's setup.
Bryan Hudson made a tad too much use of warning track fly-outs in a scoreless eighth, but probably is the reliever least deserving of scrutiny on the day. Seranthony Domínguez got a standard three-run save opportunity against the bottom of the order and eventually put it through the uprights without anything across. But walking Hernáiz (basically the A's MVP) before hitting Jeff McNeil with a two-strike pitch brought up Jacob Wilson as the tying run. The A's may be long gone, but they heard the profanity Wilson screamed after popping up a hanging sweeper to end it all the way back in Oakland.
While I still personally think the White Sox stole the nickname #LeuryLegend from me using it ironically, in general, MLB teams are not looking to the media for insights. But it's still nice when they're clearly noticing the same things we are. Which is to say that Schultz came out of the gate in his second career start with a clear intent to get his slider and changeup more involved.
They weren't necessarily expertly commanded, though his changeup was effective (three whiffs on six swings) when it wasn't put in waste locations, but the presence of Schultz's secondaries were felt in simply how frequently his hard stuff beat A's barrels to the spot. His four-seamers on the edges were bat-missers, and even without the nerve-fueled upper-90s velocity of his debut, Nick Kurtz whiffing on a sinker several inches inside to lead off the fourth demonstrated the sort of uncomfortable swings the contrasting fastball action produced.
Six strikeouts to a single walk in five innings of work probably oversells how precise Schultz was. But if not for Hernáiz in the second inning, tracking and whacking a slider on his hands that stayed letter-high for the second home run with only double-digit exit velocity on the day (Vargas had the other), Schultz's day would've been hitless and scoreless. So as long as everyone understands that the rookie had a dang good day for himself, then this story is done.
Bullet points:
*Murakami now has homered in each game of a three-game series twice in his young MLB career. This series went better than the previous one.
*Kyle Teel is continuing to travel with the team and is not heading out on a rehab assignment just yet, per CHSN's Connor McKnight, as he's not yet 100 percent while running. Quero had a first inning sacrifice fly and went 3-for-4 on challenges, but otherwise went 0-for-4 with a run-scoring wild pitch getting between his legs.
*Chase Meidroth usually isn't one to get in on the homer party, but he singled twice and scored twice.
*Vargas had two hits, two walks, two runs scored, two runs driven in, and made a slick backhand pick on a short hop grounder to end the fifth.
*White Sox hitters launched eight home runs this weekend in West Sacramento, which equals how many they had hit from March 31 through Thursday.
*Blowouts are valuable because Davis Martin going seven followed by two inning of Doug Nikhazy pitching with a huge lead on Friday, means that a healthy slate of leverage relievers were available even after 11 innings on Saturday.
