CHICAGO -- Munetaka Murakami homered and the White Sox won a game.
It’s a pattern the South Siders certainly are truly enjoying.
Murakami’s 11th home run tied the game in the fourth inning, but it was a two-run rally in the seventh and a run off a Sam Antonacci sacrifice fly in the eighth giving the White Sox a 5-4 victory over the Nationals Friday night at Rate Field. The comeback ended a six-game home losing streak for the South Siders, who improved to 11-15 overall with their fifth win in seven games.
The home run for Murakami marked his sixth game in the last seven with a long ball. He’s tied for fourth with Carlos Quentin (2009) and Frank Thomas (1994, 1996) for the most homers in April in franchise history at eight. Paul Konerko leads that group with 11 in 2010, followed by Jim Thome (2006) and Jose Abreu (2010) at 10.
But it was White Sox small ball that did the damage against Riley Cornelio, who had an erratic Major League debut. Cornelio walked Antonacci and Luisangel Acuña to open the seventh, and then threw away Tristan Peters’ perfect bunt to allow a run to score. Andrew Benintendi’s sacrifice fly gave the White Sox a 4-3 lead before Brady House tied the score with a solo home run off Jordan Leasure in the eighth.
Erick Fedde allowed one earned run over 5 2/3 innings as the bulk pitcher behind opener Bryan Hudson.