CHICAGO – Munetaka Murakami ended a streak of 13 games without a home run and 10 without an RBI in emphatic fashion on Sunday at Rate Field, homering twice and driving in six runs in a 12-3 White Sox win over the Astros.
The All-Star first baseman connected on a 3-2 slider and hit it 385 feet to left in the first inning, scoring Sam Antonacci, who drew a leadoff walk. Murakami had gone 42 at-bats since May 28 without a home run and had not gone deep in his first 11 games since coming off the injured list.
Murakami added an RBI groundout in the third, a two-run single in the seventh and a solo shot in the eighth that completed the scoring.
It was a special day for Murakami, whose bobblehead modeled after his first career homer hit in Milwaukee was given away to fans. The bobblehead featured a sentence stating “I have power” and a plaque mentioning Toto Washlets. It was Murakami’s request to add bidets to the White Sox clubhouse upon agreeing to a two-year, $34 million deal, and the White Sox obliged with the help of Toto.
His mom, Fumiyo, and his dad, Kimiya, threw out a first pitch prior to Sunday’s game. His dad threw to Murakami, while his mom threw to Kenzo Yagi, Murakami’s interpreter. And let’s not forget the Muneshot Sushi push pops added to the Lucky’s stand down the left-field line at Rate Field, beginning on Friday night.
There’s a California Crunch Roll and a Shrimp Tempura Roll, at $23 each, with soy sauce included in the push-up stick.
“I don’t eat sushi, so I have not tried it,” said White Sox executive vice president Brooks Boyer. “But people who have tried it say it’s pretty good.”
According to the White Sox, close to 1,500 were sold heading into Sunday.