Munetaka Murakami provided an early blast, and his Japanese countryman Rikuu Nishida added a timely, flashy assist from right field in his major-league debut Monday afternoon to help the White Sox hold off the Twins 3-1 at Rate Field.
Murakami launched his 18th home run of the season in the first inning, ending his seven-game homer drought with an arching solo shot to right off Twins starter Zebby Matthews
(1-2). He hadn’t gone deep since May 16 against the visiting Cubs, when he hit two homers in the same game for the first time in his MLB career.
Murakami swatted the first pitch he saw from Matthews, a high inside fastball, on a 41-degree angle. It tied the game at 1 before a juiced-up announced crowd of 30,114.
Murakami usually talks to reporters after homering, but this time, he deferred attention to Nishida, who made an immediate impact after being called up from Triple-A Charlotte before the game.
“It went really fast,” Nishida told reporters in English in the clubhouse afterward.
The Osaka native grounded a single up the middle in the fourth for his first hit after striking out swinging in his first at-bat on a 1-for-3 afternoon.
But what the 5-6, 150-pound Nishida did in the field was more electric. He made seven putouts. Even better, he cut down Orlando Arcia at the plate for the third out in the top of the second as Arcia tried to score from second on Alex Jackson’s single to right. Nishida charged the ball and uncorked a bullet to catcher Drew Romo, throwing so hard his left shoe fell off. Arcia danced wide and evaded a tag but also missed the plate. Romo applied the tag for the final out before Arcia could dive back and touch up.
“I tried to find my shoes, and when I looked up, [Arcia] was already out,” quipped Nishida, who got a game ball from his teammates.
The assist kept the game tied. Romo then hit his fifth homer, a two-run-drive, in the bottom of the second to put the Sox ahead 3-1 and for good.
“Especially in [Nishida’s] debut, to make such a good throw on the money like that, that was impressive,” Romo said.
Among Nishida’s catches in right was one against the netting on Austin Martin’s foul fly in the fifth. That ended the inning with two runners on. He also raced in to grab Luke Keaschall’s looper for the first out of the seventh, then narrowly missed hanging on to the ball after a longer run and a diving attempt on Jackson’s shallow pop with two outs.
Jackson was credited with a double, but reliever Grant Taylor fanned Byron Buxton to end the threat.
“It was hard to see [fly balls],” said Nishida, who has played mostly at second base in the minors. “I feel like it was the first time I played in a big stadium like that, so it was hard to read.”
The win moved the Sox back over .500 to 27-26 and kept them in second place in the American League Central, 1½ games ahead of the Twins, who entered having won their previous four games and six of their last seven, and 3½ games behind the Guardians, who lost to the Nationals later in the day.
Sox starter Anthony Kay allowed a solo shot by the Twins’ Brooks Lee in the first but settled in and won for the third time in his last four starts to improve to 4-1. The left-hander allowed five hits and one walk while striking out five. Over his last four starts, Kay has yielded five runs and 15 hits in 22 „ innings to trim his ERA to 3.96 after it peaked at 6.11 on April 27.
“I knew I always had it in me,” Kay said. “Kind of a rough start to the season. Just having that conviction is massive.”
Against the Twins, Kay relied heavily on his sweeper, one of six pitches in his repertoire.
“It was probably my best strike pitch today,” he said.
The Sox’ bullpen also came through, with Taylor, Bryan Hudson and closer Seranthony Dominguez throwing a scoreless inning each.
Dominguez pitched the ninth for his 11th save of the year, but it wasn’t drama-free. He appeared to have walked pinch-hitter Tristan Gray leading off the inning, but his sixth pitch — originally called a ball — was overturned to a strike after Romo made an ABS challenge, and Gray was called out.