David Sandlin pitched six innings of one-run ball in his major league debut and Munetaka Murakami homered for the third straight game as the host Chicago White Sox blasted the Minnesota Twins 15-2 on Wednesday.
Chicago secured at least a split of the four-game series behind a sterling outing from Sandlin, a right-hander acquired in a February trade with Boston which also brought reliever Jordan Hicks to the White Sox.
An 18-hit attack propelled Chicago. Sam Antonacci and Randal Grichuk collected three hits apiece. Chase Meidroth hit a seventh-inning grand slam off Travis Adams before Murakami followed immediately with his 20th home run, tied for the American League lead.
Sandlin yielded a leadoff homer to Minnesota’s Byron Buxton two pitches into the game but didn’t buckle after that. He retired the next 18 Twins in a row, the most for a White Sox pitcher in his big league debut over at least the last 100 years.
Sandlin (1-0) struck out four while throwing 41 of his 61 pitches for strikes. He needed just eight pitches in the fourth and showed similar efficiency after the White Sox racked up five runs in the fifth, sandwiching two flyouts around a strikeout over 10 pitches to end his outing.
Chicago recalled Sandlin from Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday after placing fellow rookie starter Noah Schultz (right knee patellar tendinitis) on the 15-day injured list.
Twins lefty Connor Prielipp sputtered in his seventh career start, allowing six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. Prielipp (1-3) walked three against five strikeouts.
He gave up the lead in the second, as Antonacci grounded a two-run single off Prielipp’s glove to score two.
Colson Montgomery extended the lead to 3-1 with an RBI double in the third. Edgar Quero, Meidroth, Murakami and Montgomery had two hits apiece for the White Sox. Antonacci had three RBIs and Grichuk added two.
After Buxton’s homer, the White Sox pitching staff retired 21 straight Minnesota batters before Kody Clemens connected against Brandon Eisert for a leadoff home run in the eighth. The White Sox allowed three hits, with two coming in the eighth inning.
Chicago has won eight of the past nine meetings against Minnesota dating back to last season.
