Munetaka Murakami Hit Two Homers For His Parents And They Still Prefer Their Dogs - Defector

What the report says

Defector reported that Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami ended a two-month home run drought in emphatic fashion Sunday, hitting two homers during his bobblehead day in a 12-3 win over the Houston Astros. The game also featured Murakami’s parents, who were in attendance and took part in ceremonial first pitches before seeing their son produce one of his strongest games since returning from injury.

According to the report, the White Sox had dropped the first two games of their weekend series against Houston, but Cleveland’s struggles kept Chicago from losing ground in the AL Central. Defector noted that the Sox entered at 55-49 and had moved from 3.5 games out of first place to a 1.5-game division lead during the stretch when Murakami was not homering.

Murakami’s first home run came early against Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco after he worked a 1-2 count full and drove an outside slider the other way. His day also included an RBI groundout, a productive out, an RBI single, and a second homer in the eighth inning as part of back-to-back White Sox blasts. The performance brought him to 22 home runs on the season, with his first 20 having come before a hamstring injury at the end of May.

The outing matters for a Chicago team trying to sustain a postseason push while getting contributions from players such as Miguel Vargas, Tristan Peters and Sam Antonacci. Defector added a lighter note: Murakami said his parents would not remain in the United States because they needed to return to Japan to care for their dogs.