Washington Nationals at Chicago White Sox

White Sox fans showed raucous support for Munetaka Murakami as soon as the first baseman’s name was announced as part of their starting lineup for a 5-4 victory over the Nationals on Friday at Rate Field. Murakami honored that support with his 11th home run, a solo drive off Miles Mikolas tying the game in the fourth inning. That 415-foot blast, according to Statcast, tied him with Yordan Alvarez for the Major League lead. It also earned the left-handed slugger from Japan another massive ovation from the 17,588 energetic fans in attendance. “I just wanted to live up to the expectations and try to give something back to the fans. I am really happy I was able to do that,” said Murakami through interpreter Kenzo Yagi. “The fans were giving a lot of cheers and a lot of support from the crowd. I was very happy I was able to get one off.” A Murakami homer and the White Sox winning a game has become a pattern the South Siders certainly are truly enjoying. Friday’s victory ended a six-game home losing streak for the White Sox, who improved to 11-15 overall with their fifth win in seven games. While his streak of five straight games with a homer ended Thursday in Arizona, Murakami still has gone deep in six of his last seven. There was a little postgame levity when Murakami was asked if he ever had a stretch like this one during his eight seasons in Japan. “In Japan, I hit five homers in a row,” Murakami said. “Five at-bats in a row.” Yes, we have a winner there. But this victory was not all about Murakami. Little things, or winning things, as manager Will Venable described them, made the difference. Washington held a 3-2 lead in the seventh when Riley Cornejo entered for his Major League debut. Cornejo proceeded to walk Sam Antonacci and Luisangel Acuña, and then threw away Tristan Peters’ perfectly placed bunt, bringing home the tying run and setting up Andrew Benintendi for the go-ahead sacrifice fly. Brady House’s solo homer off Jordan Leasure tied the game in the eighth, but with Cornejo still on the mound, the White Sox moved back out in front on an Antonacci sacrifice fly. That connection followed a Miguel Vargas infield hit, Colson Mongtomery’s walk and Edgar Quero’s sacrifice bunt. As hitting coach Derek Shomon told MLB.com in Arizona, this team’s offense is multi-faceted when operating at its highest level. “It's a blend of pretty much every type of player you can think of in an offense,” Antonacci said. “You have the power, you have guys who can hit home