Murakami slugs 6th HR in last 7 games as White Sox edge Nationals

CHICAGO (AP) — Munetaka Murakami hit his 11th homer of the season and reliever Seranthony Domínguez struck out two in the ninth inning as the Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Nationals 5-4 on Friday night.

The White Sox have won four of their last five games. Munetaka has hit a home run in six of the last seven games and moved into a tie with Houston's Yordan Alvarez for the MLB lead.

Munetaka's latest homer was a 415-foot shot to center field in the fourth inning.

Domínguez entered in the ninth and struck out Nasim Nuñez, and coaxed José Tena into a ground out. With the potential tying run at third base, Nationals leadoff hitter James Wood — who has the fourth-best OPS in the league — struck out swinging and Domínguez earned his sixth save.

Jordan Leasure (2-0) struck out one in one inning and gave up a home run to Brady House.

The Nationals scored first on a sacrifice fly by Luis García Jr. in the second, and scored two more runs in the fifth. Reliever Riley Cornelio (0-1) pitched two innings, walking four batters. He allowed earned runs and had a strikeout in his MLB debut.

Colson Montgomery and Tristan Peters hit RBI singles and Luisangel Acuña scored in the seventh as the White Sox took their first lead in the game.

Up next

The Nationals send Jake Irvin (1-3, 6.00 ERA) against Chicago's Noah Schultz (1-1, 3.86 ERA) on Saturday.

___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb