CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox still have plenty of power even with Munetaka Murakami unavailable because of a hamstring injury.
Edgar Quero and Colson Montgomery hit solo home runs while Andrew Benintendi connected for a two-run home run on Saturday in a 7-1 victory against the Detroit Tigers in front of 29,435 at Rate Field.
All three home runs came late in the game as the Sox won their fourth straight. At 31-27, the Sox are a season-high four games over .500.
“When these guys create a culture where they bring a ton of energy, you hope that can sustain when you miss somebody and you have that built up,” manager Will Venable said. “And these guys have done a great job of building that up, and I thought today was a great example of that where we continued to see the good effort, playing hard and playing with belief.”
Before the game, the Sox placed Murakami on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain. He could be out for four to six weeks. The first baseman leads the team with 20 home runs.
The Sox scored in a variety of ways Saturday. They took advantage of a short period of wildness from Tigers starter Framber Valdez during a two-run first inning.
Valdez surrendered a double to Chase Meidroth to begin the first. Miguel Vargas and Montgomery walked, which loaded the bases. With Randal Grichuk batting, Valdez threw a wild pitch. Meidroth scored, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead.
Vargas moved to third on the wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Quero.
Wenceel Pérez led off the third inning for Detroit with a home run, cutting the Sox’s lead to 2-1. That was the only run allowed by starter Anthony Kay, who scattered six hits, walked one and struck out three in five-plus innings.
The Tigers had runners on first and second with one out in both the fourth and fifth innings. But they didn’t score in either inning, with Kay getting timely ground balls along the way.
Matt Vierling led off the sixth with a single. And when Grichuk dropped Riley Greene’s fly ball to right field, the Tigers had runners at first and second with no outs. Reliever Grant Taylor entered and had a strikeout, a flyout and a groundout to maintain the 2-1 lead.
“He pretty much saved the day there,” Kay said. “First and second, no outs, and him to retire three guys was massive. The boys tacked on and kind of made it a comfortable win.”
The Sox extended the lead with two runs in the seventh. Quero led off the inning with a home run, his second of the season. Benintendi doubled and later scored on a single by Rikuu Nishida, giving the Sox a 4-1 lead.
Montgomery hit his home run, his 14th of the season, in the eighth. And Benintendi added the two-run home run later in the inning.
“The team is playing pretty good baseball,” Quero said. “Playing hard every day and that’s the mentality right now.”
That mindset doesn’t change with Murakami out for a period of time. In Saturday’s corresponding move, the Sox called up 2023 first-round draft pick Jacob Gonzalez from Triple-A Charlotte.
The infielder didn’t get in Saturday’s game, but had the chance to soak in the environment.
“It’s really cool,” Gonzalez said after the game. “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a kid. I’m happy to be here.”
His arrival at the park on Saturday was pushed back because of a flight delay. While waiting for the plane to take off, Gonzalez joked, “I was just hoping they weren’t going to change their minds. I was going to turn my phone off and stay on the flight.”
Saturday was his 24th birthday.
“Probably the best one so far,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez has been on a tear with the Knights, slashing .317/.419/.668 with 11 doubles, one triple, 19 home runs, 62 RBIs, 33 walks, 42 runs and a 1.087 OPS in 52 games.
“We finally found a happy medium,” Gonzalez said. “Before I was trying to do stuff that I wasn’t comfortable with. Now, I’m doing what I want to do and doing what they have told me and blended them so it’s been really comfortable and working.”
He’s largely played shortstop this year with Charlotte, but will be an option at first base for the Sox.
“I’ll play anywhere,” Gonzalez said. “I grew up playing everywhere and ready to help this team win some games.”
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