White Sox defeat Rays 6-1 with three home runs

Chicago White Sox opened their three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays with a 6-1 victory in St. Petersburg. Right-hander Nick Martinez allowed seven baserunners over six innings, but only one run crossed the plate.

The Sox’s offense erupted early. Miguel Vargas homered on the first pitch he saw, a 433-foot shot to left. Andrew Benintendi added a solo home run in the second inning on a front-hip cutter. Munetaka Murakami followed in the third with an opposite-field blast off an off-speed pitch.

"It shows that I’m getting a good approach at-bat and having good timing on the breaking balls," Murakami said through an interpreter.

Colson Montgomery contributed a sixth-inning home run, extending the lead to 6-1. He later described the swing as feeling like “another homer.”

Erick Fedde started for Chicago and delivered five strong innings, striking out nine batters and allowing only one run. He kept the Rays at bay despite a solo homer by Junior Caminero in the fourth.

"They make my job easy when they give me big leads and I know if I can put up quality innings and keep it close, they are probably going to add on," Fedde said.

Reliever Tyler Schweitzer followed with three scoreless innings, striking out pinch-hitter Ryan Vilade to end the eighth inning. Manager Will Venable praised the bullpen’s performance given limited roster availability.

"We were really limited tonight with our availability, and to come through like that with the coverage, but also really good performance and getting some big outs there was awesome," Venable said.

The three-homer feat tied a franchise record for the White Sox and matched a Major League Baseball record for the fifth time this season. Murakami also announced plans to donate his game-used gear for a charity auction benefiting Kumamoto, Japan.

"For the charity for the White Sox, I’m donating my gear I use in the game so it can be auctioned off and given back to the community and for Kumamoto itself," Murakami said.