Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery HRs fuel White Sox to 2nd consecutive win vs. Blue Jays

LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune on Apr 4, 2026

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — It didn’t take long for Munetaka Murakami to adjust to his new home park.

The first baseman hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth inning Saturday during a 6-3 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays in front of 18,389 at Rate Field. Colson Montgomery added a solo shot later in the sixth for the Sox, who secured a series win against last year’s American League champions.

“It was always a dream for me to play here and then hit in front of the crowd here at Rate Field,” Murakami said through an interpreter. “To get that one out is really pleasant.”

Murakami has four home runs in eight games after signing a two-year deal with the Sox in the offseason. The home run Saturday was the first at Rate Field for the two-time Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese Central League Most Valuable Player.

“He’s built for this,” manager Will Venable said. “He’s been everything that we imagined as far as his impact in the clubhouse, who he is as a person, his play on the field defensively as well as the power and plate discipline. Really good stuff from Mune.”

The Sox relied on small ball, from double steals to bunts, during their home opener Friday for a 5-4 victory in 10 innings.

On Saturday, it was all about the long ball.

“Both those guys (Murakami and Montgomery) can change the game with one swing, we saw it today,” Venable said. “To have that in your lineup is huge. We want to be able to have slug in there. We want to be able to pressure the defense with Tristan Peters and (Derek) Hill and talking about the bunts we’ve talked about since spring training.

“You’ve got to find different ways to score runs on different nights. Today we were able to do that.”

The Blue Jays started the power display with a two-run home run from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the the top of the sixth for a 2-1 lead. That was the only mistake made by Sox pitcher Anthony Kay, who allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and no strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings following opener Grant Taylor’s perfect one inning of work.

“Overall it was pretty good,” Kay said of his outing. “They’re a very contact-oriented team, so I wanted to let them put the ball in play and let the defense make some plays.

“Those guys behind me made some good plays. Overall, pretty solid. Obviously, the pitch to Vladdy — wasn’t even a terrible pitch, just a good piece of hitting by him. That’s what he does.”

Miguel Vargas began the bottom of the sixth with a double against Blue Jays reliever Brendon Little. Murakami followed with the 431-foot home run on a 1-1 sinker in the lefty-lefty battle, putting the Sox ahead 3-2.

“That (top of the) inning, they got to us,” Murakami said. “So definitely I wanted to get a run in. I wanted to move the runner forward and not too much. It was the best result coming off the bat.

“I was really glad we were able to push that lead.”

Montgomery came up with one out and lined a 3-1 sinker just over the right-field wall, extending the Sox lead to 4-2. It was Montgomery’s second home run of the season.

“It goes back to our preparation during the game,” Montgomery said. “We’re trying to get different looks in the cage before we go out and hit against their lefties who are really pretty good. It goes back to the coaches’ game plans with us.

“Me and Mune probably had very similar plans, we were just trying to see him up and over the plate and try to put our best swing on it, and we were both able to put good swings on the ball.”

The Blue Jays scored a run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly to right by Nathan Lukes. Tyler Heineman attempted to advance from second on the play, but right fielder Peters made a strong throw to the cutoff man Murakami, who fired to third in time to get Heineman for the final out of the inning.

“I was seeing the second-base runner so at that moment I was going to throw it to third,” Murakami said. “I made a good play out of it, so I’m really happy I made that.”

Heineman made a defensive mistake in the eighth, leading to two insurance runs for the Sox. Vargas got caught in a rundown between home and third, and the catcher Heineman threw the ball wildly into left field. Vargas and Austin Hays scored on the sequence, making it 6-3, and the Sox (3-5) were on their way to their second straight home victory.

“It’s a really fun crowd,” Murakami said. “They are really, really loud. They are cheering us on. I’m happy to play in front of them.”