PHOENIX — Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami demolished a second-inning offering from Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly for a 426-foot solo home run to right field.
Miguel Vargas then hit a liner that got over the left-field wall for back-to-back home runs.
The Sox weren’t done.
Colson Montgomery followed with a 440-foot blast to center field.
The Sox went back-to-back-to-back for the first time since 2020 on the way to an 11-5 victory Tuesday in front of 23,045 at Chase Field.
“I’m just really happy that we won the game, and to be able to contribute is what I feel the best (about),” Murakami said through an interpreter.
The Sox scored four runs in the first inning and followed that up with the three consecutive home runs in the second. The last time the Sox hit three home runs in a row came on Sept. 19, 2020, when Tim Anderson, Yasmani Grandal and José Abreu accomplished the feat in the eighth inning in Cincinnati.
“You know you want to do a back-to-back-to-back, but just stuck with my approach, stuck with my game plan, stayed committed,” Montgomery said. “The guy was throwing great pitches, it was just one of those nights where the guys, we were flowing, the hits were contagious, the homers were contagious.”
Murakami went 3-for-5 with a walk. The home run was his ninth of the season. He has homered in four consecutive games.
“I still have a lot of pitchers that I’ve faced for the first time, but I’m really analyzing the pitchers as much as possible so that I’m getting ready into the at-bat, so I’ll just try to keep doing whatever I’m doing right now,” Murakami said.
Vargas has four home runs on the season and Montgomery six. Vargas has gone deep in two straight games, Montgomery in three straight.
“We wanted to get the ball up,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “Kelly’s a really good pitcher, and we forced him into the parts of the zone where we wanted him, and the guys didn’t miss those pitches. So, yeah, it was just really nice for the guys to go out and have a plan and execute it.”
Montgomery drove in two runs in the first inning with a double. Everson Pereira had a sacrifice fly to right and Sam Antonacci had an RBI triple in the inning as the Sox went ahead 4-0.
The three straight home runs in the second stretched the lead to 7-0.
“I think everyone is kind of settling down, trusting their approach, staying committed to their game plan,” Montgomery said. “Coaches are giving us a great game plan of what to do and how to attack these pitchers. Everyone is playing free, easy and just committed to their plan.”
Sox starter Sean Burke made the most of the run support, allowing two runs on five hits with three strikeouts and one walk in six innings.
“My plan from there was to try to be in the zone as much as possible,” Burke said of pitching with the large lead.
The team’s fourth home run came in unique circumstances.
With a runner on and no outs in the ninth, Antonacci hit a fair ball just inside the third-base line. Diamondbacks left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. initially stopped when the ball person in foul territory touched the ball. But the umpires ruled the play still live and Antonacci ran around the bases for a two-run, inside-the-park home run. Since interference wasn’t called on the field, the play was unreviewable, and Antonacci had his first career major-league home run.
“Just knew it was a for sure double and then saw no one was putting their hands up (to end the play), so I just kept running,” Antonacci said.
He became the first White Sox to record an inside-the-park home run for his first career major-league home run since Kevin Bell on June 22, 1976, in Kansas City, Mo.
