Murakami joins DeLauter in exclusive club with HRs in first 3 MLB games

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox and Chase DeLauter of the Cleveland Guardians have accomplished something in the last week that had been done only twice before.

The two rookies homered in each of their first three major-league games. According to Sportradar, the only other players to hit home runs in at least their first three Major League Baseball games were Trevor Story with the Colorado Rockies in 2016 and Kyle Lewis with the Seattle Mariners in 2019.

Story owns the MLB record with homers in his first four career games. DeLauter will try to match that when the Guardians play at Seattle on Sunday night.

Murakami, 26, added his name to the club Sunday by sending a 3-2 pitch from Milwaukee's Brandon Sproat over the wall in right-center and into the White Sox bullpen in the second inning. The Japanese slugger homered off Jake Woodford in the ninth inning of his debut Thursday and went deep against Chad Patrick in the fourth inning Saturday.

This is Murakami's first series in the majors since signing a two-year, $34-million contract with the White Sox in December. Murakami hit 246 homers over eight seasons with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Central League — including a 56-homer season in 2022.

DeLauter, 24, has four homers in his first three games.

The outfielder went deep twice in his MLB debut on Thursday and became the fifth player in the Guardians' 126-year history to homer in his first career regular-season at bat. He added a solo shot off Seattle's George Kirby on Friday and then hit a two-run blast off Andrés Muñoz in the 10th inning Saturday.

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