The Mets are on the board. Now, it’s the Phillies’ turn. The club will look to end an eight-game slide in Chicago this afternoon.
1. Murakami’s home run streak
First baseman Munetaka Murakami took Ryan Thompson deep in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s contest. He’s now homered in five consecutive games, which puts him in impressive historical company (h/t Scott Merkin of MLB.com). Murakami’s homer streak ties him with Shohei Ohtani for the longest by a Japanese-born player. The five-game run matches the White Sox franchise record, set by several players. It also ties the MLB rookie record, which has been done 13 times. Colson Montgomery has also homered in four straight games, which is a record for a pair of teammates. The slugging infielders will look to keep it going against Michael Soroka on Thursday.
2. Ritchie getting the call
The Braves are promoting top prospect JR Ritchie for his MLB debut against the Nationals today. The right-hander was off to an excellent start in Triple-A, posting a 0.99 ERA across five appearances. Ritchie is taking the spot of fellow intriguing rookie Didier Fuentes, who allowed four earned runs over three innings on Wednesday, but did rack up seven strikeouts. Ritchie and Fuentes are likely to be up and down with the big-league club frequently as the organization tries to buy time for its injured starters to return.
3. Soriano’s historic start
Right-hander Jose Soriano navigated around seven hits to deliver five scoreless innings against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. The outing trimmed his ERA to 0.28. It’s the lowest mark through six starts since earned runs became an official stat in 1913, per MLB. Soriano has allowed one earned run all season, and it came in one of his most dominant outings. Drake Baldwin tagged him for a solo home run in the first inning of an April 6 start, but Soriano settled in for eight strong frames to beat Chris Sale and the Braves. He’s ripped off 24 2/3 scoreless innings since the Baldwin blast. Soriano is lined up to face the White Sox in his next start.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Red Sox didn’t sign Murakami because they don’t need homeruns, right?
They have that casas guy, don’t worry.
There is much rejoicing in New York! The Mets finally won a ballgame last night, though they might lose Francisco Lindor to the DL with a barking calf muscle.
I’m glad Murakami is doing so well. It’ll be interesting to see how the league adjusts to him, and what adjustments he makes in response.
White Sox were the right franchise for him to sign with, as no one thought he would be this successful this early. Good for him.
Wow… in six starts Soriano’s WAR is already greater than his WAR last year.
The Pirates let this guy go. Can you imagine Skenes and him at the top of your rotation this year.
If Murakami keeps raking, do the White Sox move him at the deadline? If so, who goes after him?
As others said, I think it would be bad business if they trade him already and not really endear them to the Japanese market as he’s just getting comfortable in the states.
Rumor is Jerry is getting nervous about having to pay this guy – so he is looking to trade him for 3 Little League players.
like i said before
all the teams and all the scouts and all the “experts” are slapping themselves for dismissing Murakami. guy’s a HR beast. just like he was in japan.
on pace for 67 hr. 142 walks. OPS over 1.000. definitely looking better than okamoto who got twice the deal.
murakami’s going to rly cash in when his 2 yrs are done
It’s April
Both the Phillies and Pirates have to be wondering why they didn’t sign this guy.
With hindsight, sure. But nearly all projections would show the Pirates at least being more disappointed missing out on Okamoto and, given his slow start, I am glad we didn’t go harder after him.
I’m not sure where we would play Murakami if he was on our team. We already have 6 1B and I don’t trust Murakami’s glove at 3B.
But seeing how they’re hitting now, sure, I wish we had ponied up for Murakami and ignored Okamoto.
What a fantastic start to his season!!
Soriano