Munetaka Murakami’s homer streak ends, but Andrew Benintendi’s blast seals red-hot White Sox’ win

PHOENIX — The White Sox‘ unprecedented home run streaks are over, but their momentum was at a season-high in the desert on Thursday.

Absent a home run from Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery or Miguel Vargas for the first time in almost a week, it was Andrew Benintendi carrying the torch for a rejuvenated offense.

The veteran’s three-run, ninth inning homer off Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald capitalized on another stellar outing from Sox starter Davis Martin, sealed a series win and put the exclamation mark on an invigorating 4-2 road trip for a team that scuffled out of the gate but suddenly has the hottest offense in baseball.

“Start of the year, everybody is struggling. You see a bunch of .100 batting averages up on the board and you start to panic. Nobody in here panics,” Benintendi said. “When you are feeling good, take advantage of it because it won’t last forever.”

Murakami, Montgomery and Vargas had taken full advantage throughout the West Coast swing, with the first baseman homering in a franchise-record five straight games, the shortstop in four straight and the third baseman in three — the first time in MLB history that a trio of teammates ever went on such torrid streaks concurrently.

While the trio’s dinger bonanza concluded — just barely for Vargas, who had a ninth-inning fly fall a few feet shy of the Chase Field stands — they each tagged singles, including three for Montgomery.

Vargas still got the Sox on the board with his RBI single in the third inning, while Murakami struck out three times but also made a diving stop in the field.

“They’re just so connected. We’ve seen that throughout the year as we’ve continued to play better and better,” manager Will Venable said. “That confidence just grows.”

After getting tagged for an RBI double in the first inning, Martin further bolstered his status as the staff’s de facto ace, trading zeroes with D-backs starter and former Sox pitcher Michael Soroka and the Arizona bullpen. Venable gave him the hook in the seventh inning after Marting gave up the sixth hit he’d sprinkled over 6 1/3 innings with a walk and seven strikeouts.

“I was still just kind of going through the motions, and kind of got punched in the face a little bit and just responded really well,” Martin said. “Where I’m at mentally is just going out there and competing the best I can and trusting your defense.”

Grant Taylor entered and gave up a double, but struck his way out of the jam, earning a dugout kiss from a thankful Martin. “I was going to go kiss [him] on the lips, and he pulled away,” the starter joked. “We love celebrating each other’s successes and love having fun together.”

Taylor pitched a clean eighth inning before Benintendi’s blast, which sailed 410 feet and carried a whole lot of momentum with the team back to Chicago.

The Sox boosted their OPS by 100 points while scoring 44 runs and slugging 16 home runs during the six-game trip. Most of those came from the heart of the order in Vargas, Montgomery and Murakami, who put himself in the national spotlight with the five-game streak.

“Last year we showed after the break that a couple of guys get it going, it seems like everybody else does too,” Benintendi said. “One goes, we all go.”

The on-field outburst has been a treat for Venable, but first, he pointed off the field.

“For me, it’s what’s going on in the clubhouse and these hitter meetings and how these guys are connected and just creating the connection and vibe,” Venable said. “When you’re scoring runs, it’s easier to do that. But it’s some of the things that we saw even before we started scoring runs, the way that they communicate with each other, the way that [hitting coach Derek Shomon] runs those meetings, and guys are talking about their approaches and sharing ideas and then going out here and executing it.”