CLEVELAND – A playoff game with a likely American League Cy Young finalist in Parker Messick opposing them on the mound. A crisp October afternoon in Cleveland with the wind blowing in off Lake Erie. Two offenses combining for an 0-for-7 showing with runners in scoring position.
The Guardians and White Sox played the sort of Game 1 of their ALDS showdown that could be determined by one momentous swing from a slugger with all-world power.
In the fourth inning, on a 93 mph sinker from Messick in on his hands, Munetaka Murakami delivered such a swing.
“That might have been the coolest home run of the year,” said Grant Taylor, who closed out the final four innings of the Sox’ 3-0, series-opening win. “440 [feet] down the line is obviously pretty sweet, but the pimp job was impeccable.”
Murakami has watched some of his homers before, but probably none for as long as this one, which is inarguably the most momentous of his MLB career to date. Once he started moving, he turned toward the visitor’s dugout in Progressive Field and roared, while side-stepping up the first base line.
“I can't really explain it in words right now,” Murakami said via interpreter of what he felt in that moment. “But it was something a little bit dirty.”
His teammates responded in kind.
“I was screaming pretty loud,” said shortstop Colson Montgomery, who added two hits including an RBI double.
"It's just a momentum swing, right?” said catcher Kyle Teel. “[Messick's] a really good pitcher and a ball hit like that, momentum switches to our side. I feel a big part of playoff baseball is momentum.”
From there, a Guardians offense that improved at the trade deadline, but still finished 11th out 15 AL teams in run scored, was working from behind against a phalanx of White Sox relievers. With shadows encroaching and a fully rested Taylor looming, the Sox played the rest of the afternoon in the driver’s seat.
“It's massive,” said Anthony Kay, who worked four outs in relief. “Obviously we’ve got a bunch of dogs in the bullpen. When you know you can hand it off to them, it's special when they’ve got a lead.”
Murakami downplayed the idea that he struggled during the two-game Wild Card series in Houston, but he and third baseman Miguel Vargas combined to go 1-for-17 against the Astros. If they produced similarly against the Guardians, it would be an easy place to point to for why the White Sox would fall short.
Instead, the close friends combined to reach base five times on Saturday, with Vargas–one of the Sox lineup’s bulwarks against left-handed pitching all year long–ripping a line-drive single right in front of Murakami’s blast.
“What playoff baseball is about is your big dogs going out there and making big plays,” said manager Will Venable. “Mune is the guy in the middle of the lineup that's been doing it all year.”
Murakami cited a change in leg-strengthening program late in the season, which Sox hitting coaches said helped him work from a stable base as they got his swing back on plane. He was asked again on Saturday if it’s been working, but after he hit multiple balls at 110 mph or harder off Messick, he feels everything is working.
“There's tons of great pitchers out there,” Murakami said via interpreter. “I have to do everything in 100 percent at the right way in order to hit those great pitchers.”
For as long as the White Sox can keep this continually surprising run going, against the Guardians and beyond, they will need Murakami to be able to swing more games against great pitchers. His signing delivered hope to the organization in the offseason. His funny personality lights up a loose and easygoing clubhouse.
But here in the playoffs, Murakami offers the underdog Sox something just as special.
“Home runs, right?” said Teel. “He just has so much power.”
