Munetaka Murakami belted a go-ahead three-run homer and Miguel Vargas followed with a solo shot to key a seven-run seventh inning and lift the host Chicago White Sox to an 8-7 victory against the skidding Los Angeles Angels on Monday.
Chicago regrouped from a sluggish start to send the Angels to their fourth straight loss and eighth defeat in nine games.
Grant Taylor allowed two runs in the ninth, including a Nolan Schanuel bloop double with two outs that brought the Angels within the final margin. Bryan Hudson retired Adam Frazier on a groundout to second with two runners in scoring position to earn his first career save.
The White Sox trailed by four runs entering the bottom of the seventh. Tristan Peters hit an RBI single and Andrew Benintendi added a two-run double to put two men aboard for Murakami, who greeted reliever Drew Pomeranz with his major-league-leading 12th home run.
Vargas connected one batter later.
Showing little hesitation in a game that began after a three-hour rain delay, the Angels scored a run in the first inning, two in the second and another in the fourth.
Jorge Soler opened the scoring against White Sox left-hander Anthony Kay with a sacrifice fly. Bryce Teodosio doubled home a run in the second before Zach Neto followed with an RBI single.
Vaughn Grissom delivered a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to make it 4-0 in the fourth.
Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz was sharp behind the early run support. After yielding first-inning singles to Murakami and Colson Montgomery, he allowed just one baserunner over the next three innings.
Benintendi’s RBI forceout in the fifth drew Chicago to within 4-1, but the Angels got the run back on Soler’s solo home run in the seventh.
Mike Trout, Grissom, Schanuel and Teodosio had two hits apiece for Los Angeles while Soler contributed three RBIs. Murakami had two hits and three RBIs, Benintendi drove in three runs and Peters had two hits.
Kay scattered four runs and seven hits in four innings with two walks and two strikeouts.
Kochanowicz spaced three runs, two earned, and five hits in six-plus innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Osvaldo Bido (2-0) allowed one run and two hits over three innings.
Nick Sandlin (0-1) yielded three runs in the seventh without recording an out.
–Field Level Media
