{"id":1046202,"date":"2026-09-06T03:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T03:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046202\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T03:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T03:52:18","slug":"chicago-white-sox-let-early-lead-slip-away-in-6-4-loss-to-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046202\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox let early lead slip away in 6-4 loss to Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Munetaka Murakami momentarily had a share of the team lead in home runs, hitting his 30th in the first inning Saturday against the Minnesota Twins.<\/p>\n

The two-run blast to left field put him in a tie with Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery. Briefly.<\/p>\n

Montgomery hit a solo home run to right field later in the inning, his 31st of the year.<\/p>\n

The early fireworks weren\u2019t enough as the Sox squandered the three-run lead in a 6-4 loss to the Twins in front of 27,749 at Rate Field.<\/p>\n

\n

Photos: Minnesota Twins 6, Chicago White Sox 4<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cObviously I\u2019m really happy about getting 30, but moreover it\u2019s we lost the game,\u201d Murakami said through an interpreter. \u201cSo that\u2019s very much disappointing. We hope we can win one tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Jeffers hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the fifth inning, and the Twins held on for the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team hands you a 3-0 lead in the first inning, you want to hold on to that,\u201d Sox starter Anthony Kay said. \u201cAnd obviously I didn\u2019t do my job with that tonight and going to have to figure it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot in a groove early and then kind of just fell apart the second and third times around. They put a couple good swings on it and wasn\u2019t able to hold the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first-place Sox (74-68) still hold a 2\u00bd-game lead over the second-place Cleveland Guardians (72-71) in the American League Central. The Guardians lost 6-0 to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday. The third-place Twins (68-74) are six games back.<\/p>\n

The home runs from Murakami<\/a> and Montgomery put the Sox ahead 3-0.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoWhite Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami follows through on a two-run home run in the first inning against the Twins on Sept. 5, 2026, at Rate Field. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)
\n\"ChicagoWhite Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami high-fives teammates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run in the first inning against the Twins on Sept. 5, 2026, at Rate Field. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously having Colson and Vargas is a strong point for us,\u201d Murakami said. \u201cBut not just them, the whole team contributing in all aspects. It\u2019s making us stronger. Keep continuing as a team to get stronger and hope for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murakami, Vargas and Montgomery are the first trio of Sox to hit 30-plus home runs in a season since Carlos Quentin (36), Jermaine Dye (34) and Jim Thome (34) in 2008. Vargas and Montgomery reached 30 on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really cool, it\u2019s special,\u201d manager Will Venable said. \u201cObviously all these guys have done a great job really throughout our lineup. To have three guys in the middle of your lineup that have 30 homers, it means a lot. It speaks to what we do well. These guys hit the ball hard, hit the ball over the fence, and it\u2019s cool to have three guys with 30.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murakami joined Eloy Jim\u00e9nez (31 in 2019), Jos\u00e9 Abreu (36 in 2014) and Ron Kittle (35 in 1983) as the only Sox rookies to record 30-plus home runs in a season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lone goal I had was not to get injured, and not about home runs,\u201d Murakami said. \u201cResults come at the end overall after the season. Just keeping that up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Twins were down but not out.<\/p>\n

They loaded the bases with one out in the fourth against Kay. Kody Clemens hit a grounder, but the Sox only were able to get a force at second. A run scored on the fielder\u2019s choice. Brooks Lee drove in another with a double, cutting the Sox lead to 3-2.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoWhite Sox starting pitcher Anthony Kay walks on the infield as Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers rounds the bases after hitting a three-run home run in the fifth inning Sept. 5, 2026, at Rate Field. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Kay surrendered the three-run home run to Jeffers on a 1-0 cutter in the fifth inning, putting the Sox behind 5-3. Kay allowed five runs on six hits with three strikeouts and one walk in 4 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally sharp there up front in the first few innings and then just got in some trouble,\u201d Venable said. \u201cWasn\u2019t able to work out of it, just left some pitches over the plate. Obviously, Jeffers\u2019 homer was killer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vargas drove in a run with a single in the fifth to get the Sox within 5-4. But the Twins extended their lead to 6-4 on a Kaelen Culpepper RBI double in the seventh.<\/p>\n

The Sox brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh and eighth innings. Kyle Teel struck out and Sam Antonacci grounded out to strand a runner on second in the seventh. Montgomery struck out with a runner on second to end the eighth.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously nice first inning with the homers, cool to see Mune get his 30th and another good swing from Colson,\u201d Venable said. \u201cBut just didn\u2019t really get anything cooking after that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Munetaka Murakami momentarily had a share of the team lead in home runs, hitting his 30th in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1046203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1274,5386,1818,1370,1266,62],"class_list":["post-1046202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117222072028058362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}