White Sox News: 3 historical notes in a 6-4 loss to Twins

The Chicago White Sox jumped out ahead 3-0 in the first inning of Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Twins, but were unable to overcome Anthony Kay’s fourth and fifth inning struggles where he got tagged with five earned runs. Ultimately the Sox dropped the contest 6-4, but if there is a silver lining, history was made during the contest and both the Cleveland Guardians and Houston Astros lost as well, meaning there was no change in the American League Central or No.2 seed post season races.

Three historical notes from a 6-4 Chicago White Sox loss to the Minnesota Twins

During the White Sox three run first inning, they achieved the lead with home runs from Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery. For Murakami, he not only snapped a 74 plate appearance homeless streak, but he reached No.30 on the season. This makes him just the fourth Japenese born player to reach that threshold in a single season, with Shohei Ohtani, Seiya Suzuki, and Hideki Matsui being the others.

Murakami’s blast also gave Chicago three members of the 30 home run club this season. This marks the fourth time in franchise history that feat has been achieved, with the 2008, 2006, and 2004 White Sox all completing it in the past. In 08, the players to hit 30 home runs was Jermaine Dye, Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome, 06 Joe Crede, Dye, Thome, Paul Konerko, and in 04 Ponerko, Carlos Lee, and José Valentín.

Lastly, Montgomery’s first-inning home run marked his 31st of the season and the 10th time he and Murakami have homered in the same game. That ties the most such instances by a White Sox duo in a single season, matching Luis Robert Jr. and Jake Burger in 2023, Joe Thome and Jermaine Dye in 2006, and Frank Thomas and Carlos Lee in 2003.

As interesting as all the history surrounding the home runs is, the White Sox ultimately came away with a loss and missed an opportunity to gain ground in the playoff races. Fortunately, the Guardians and Astros also lost, allowing Chicago to maintain a 2.5-game lead in the division and a 1.5-game advantage in the race for the No. 2 seed entering play Sunday, Sept. 6.

However, Chicago does not hold the tiebreaker advantage over Houston, whereas that is undecided yet against Cleveland, but the White Sox need to win just one of the three remaining games against the Guardians to secure that tiebreaker.

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