Munetaka Murakami Tied Aaron Judge for the MLB Home Run Lead and the White Sox Are Getting Scary

Munetaka Murakami just tied Aaron Judge for the most home runs in baseball. That's not a typo. That's real life, and it happened Monday night in Anaheim as the Chicago White Sox demolished the Los Angeles Angels 6-0.

Murakami went absolutely nuclear. Three hits, three runs scored, and his 14th blast of the season, a 429-foot moonshot to center that tied him with Judge atop the league. The White Sox as a whole weren't messing around either, racking up 16 hits total and turning this into a total Angels meltdown.

The White Sox Are on a Roll Nobody Saw Coming

Chicago has won six of its last seven games and is now just one game below .500. That's a massive swing from where they were, and Murakami is leading the charge. Andrew Benintendi went 4-for-4 with an RBI, Jarred Kelenic had three hits, Miguel Vargas homered, and Sam Antonacci chipped in two hits. The Angels pitching had absolutely no answers.

Davis Martin was the big story on the mound. The guy threw seven shutout innings, gave up just five hits, struck out a career-high 10 batters, and didn't walk a single person. This was his third straight win. He's been lights out lately, allowing one or fewer runs in five of his past six starts. Sean Newcomb came in and threw two perfect innings to seal the shutout.

The Angels' Nightmare Is Getting Real

Los Angeles has lost 13 of their last 15 games. That's not a rough stretch, that's a freefall. Jose Soriano looked nothing like the guy who had a 0.24 ERA through his first six starts. He gave up two home runs Monday and has now allowed eight runs and 14 hits over his past nine innings across two starts. His ERA went from microscopic to 1.74. On Monday alone, Soriano surrendered five runs and eight hits over four innings while striking out five and walking three.

The White Sox kept piling it on. In the fourth, Murakami's 429-foot blast to center made it 3-0 before Vargas jumped on the next pitch for a solo shot to right-center and 5-0. Then in the eighth, Murakami, Vargas, and Colson Montgomery hit consecutive two-out singles to extend the lead even more.

The White Sox host another matchup soon. This team is clicking right now, and Murakami is playing like he belongs in the same conversation as Judge.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.