Points for power: Slugging White Sox square series with Cubs thanks to 5 home runs

The accounting department is probably on top of this already, but the White Sox will need to adjust the fireworks budget this season.

When Saturday's game against the Cubs ended, the White Sox were tied for second with Atlanta for the most home runs in MLB at 64, trailing the Yankees with 67. The Sox set off the fireworks five times against Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon in an 8-3 victory at Rate Field, which evened the city series.

Munetaka Murakami ended a micro-slump of six games without a home run by hitting two against the Cubs. Colson Montgomery, Miguel Vargas and Andrew Benintendi also cleared the fences, while Miguel Amaya and Pete Crow-Armstrong homered for the Cubs on a warm, windy night.

This is the new 2026 reality: Murakami, Montgomery and Vargas are the most prolific power trio in MLB, with 41 combined home runs. A Yankees crew of Aaron Judge, Ben Rice and Trent Grisham is next with 36.

“It's the full lineup, one through nine,” Murakami said through a translator. “It's a confidence-builder, seeing other players get good results. I just want to contribute to the lineup and contribute to the team win.”

Meanwhile, White Sox starter Davis Martin (6-1) lowered his season ERA to 1.61 by allowing 5 hits and 1 run over 6 innings, with 7 strikeouts. Martin also did a nice job of describing the Mune Effect on the Sox as a whole.

“He wants to win,” Martin said. “I think that was prevalent in the first series in Milwaukee. He's screaming, 'Let's go,' he's got to get in everybody's butts. It's exciting to have that kind of injection of energy.”

Injured pitcher Mike Vasil probably deserves an assist, since he fires up Murakami before games in the dugout, then waves a magic wand at players after home runs. The two homers Saturday pushed the Japanese rookie past Aaron Judge for second place among home run leaders with 17. Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber leads the majors with 20.

“(Murakami) is a superstar,” Martin said. “There's no other way to put it. You play against guys like (Mike) Trout, you play against guys like Judge, and Yordan Alvarez, and he's doing the same things there are. It's an incredible thing to watch.”

Martin also talked about how well Murakami has meshed with his new teammates. It sounds similar to what the Cubs had with pitcher Shota Imanaga — maybe there's not many words exchanged, but the magnetic personality shines through.

“It wasn't one of those things where we were like, we're going to let him integrate when he wants to,” Martin said. “I think everybody kind of surrounded him and wanted to let him know that he was a part of this team and that we were excited to have him. I think he's embraced that with open arms.

“You've seen him and Mike Vasil's handshake before the game. It's high energy, it's electric. We wanted him to know that he was part of this team, and we're happy to have him.”

As usual, it was an effective mix of pitches that made Martin so tough. Leadoff hitter Nico Hoerner saw all five of Martin's best pitches in the opening at-bat, and he also used all five of those pitches to land strike three at some point in the contest.

“I don't have any certain pitch that I can overpower guys with, so I just try to make sure I'm moving spots, moving shapes, moving locations,” Martin said.

On the other side, Taillon (2-3) now leads the major leagues with 16 home runs allowed. Things went awry right away when the Sox started with a single, walk and 3-run Vargas homer in the first inning. Taillon and manager Craig Counsell had slightly different perspectives on this outing.

“He threw some badly missed location pitches, and they put them in the seats,” Counsell said. “The Vargas ball's probably as middle as you can get.”

Countered Taillon: “To be completely honest, I don't think some of those pitches were that bad. It's kind of a sign they had a good game plan and it's on me to punch back and adjust.

“Just feels like there's some damage being done on pitches away (to lefties), where that was a strength in the past. Probably need to pitch in more, pitch up more, just be more unpredictable because right now, obviously, the game's telling me it's not good enough.”