Back-to-back home runs from Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas sparked the Chicago White Sox to a seven-run outburst in the seventh inning on Monday night.

While the long ball proved the key to an 8-7 home victory against the slumping Los Angeles Angels, the White Sox also are confident in their ability to play small ball — including bunting — as they seek to secure a series victory Tuesday night in the second contest of a three-game set in Chicago.

“We’ve been talking about bunting as a weapon starting in spring training and how important that was going to be for guys in certain spots,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Some more than others. But that’s got to be part of our game as we’re trying to find ways to score runs.”

Los Angeles, meanwhile, is seeking answers for preventing runs late in the game. A beleaguered bullpen again was unable to hold a lead Monday in a game that was delayed by rain and thunderstorms for three hours.

Los Angeles has lost four straight games and eight its last nine. The past two defeats have been frustratingly similar, with left-handed reliever Drew Pomeranz allowing tying or go-ahead home runs to the first batter he faced in the seventh inning or later.

On Sunday, Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone reached Pomeranz for a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth to force extra innings.

Murakami took his turn in Monday’s series opener against the White Sox, greeting Pomeranz with a three-run blast in the seventh for his major-league-leading 12th homer. Vargas followed with a solo shot.

“We mingle together a lot, so I’m just glad that he’s a teammate and I’m glad to have him here,” Murakami said through a translator.

The Angels have kick-started their attack recently after a dry spell. Paced by two hits apiece from Mike Trout, Vaughn Grissom, Nolan Schanuel and Bryce Teodosio, Los Angeles out-hit the White Sox 14-9 on Monday.

A day earlier, the Angels built an early 6-0 advantage before losing 11-9 in 10 innings.

Grissom started at second base Monday as the Angels faced left-handed starter Anthony Kay. Grissom hopes to translate his success to more regular time in the lineup.

“It’s not my decision,” he said, “but that would be sick. As a ballplayer, you want to be in there every single day. So it’s definitely something that I’d love, but I do whatever helps the team win.”

Tuesday’s pitching matchup will feature a pair of ace right-handers as Davis Martin (3-1, 2.01 ERA) of Chicago faces Jose Soriano (5-0, 0.24) of Los Angeles.

Martin will aim to close a sharp April in which he has pitched to a 1.37 ERA over 26 1/3 innings covering four starts.

Soriano has been even more dominant, allowing only one run in 25 2/3 innings in four starts this month. He pitched five shutout innings in a no-decision against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. The Angels won 7-3.

“He’s got serious stuff,” Schanuel said. “I feel bad for hitters who have to go face him three or four times in a game. I saw it while standing in there during spring training. He’s got [a] Wiffle ball. I’ve never seen a baseball move that much.”

Soriano has flourished in two career appearances (one start) vs. the White Sox, going 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He has allowed two hits and struck out 10 batters over nine scoreless innings.

Martin is 0-1 with a 3.07 ERA in three career appearances (all starts) against the Angels.

–Field Level Media

The Seattle Mariners are no strangers to rain in the damp Northwest.

But after losing their series opener on a cold, soggy Monday night against the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis, the Mariners might be glad to see that the weather forecast is better for the rest of the week.

The Mariners will look to bounce back on Tuesday after the Twins ended Seattle’s four-game winning streak.

“The weather was a little difficult,” Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo said after he started in an 11-4 loss against the Twins on Monday. “The mound was a little wet and a little slippery. There was a fear of sliding and hurting yourself. But I felt like when I wanted to or if I needed to put more velocity on it, I could.”

On Tuesday, the Twins will go for back-to-back victories for the first time since April 11-14. Minnesota also is pursuing its first series win in two weeks, when it took two of three games against the Boston Red Sox.

Twins manager Derek Shelton praised his hitters after they erupted for 11 runs on 12 hits Monday. Kody Clemens homered and drove in five RBIs, and Byron Buxton belted a two-run homer.

Shelton hopes to see more success at the plate from the Twins, who managed only one or two runs four times in their previous five games before Monday’s breakout.

“It’s nice,” Shelton said. “Sometimes, you go through stretches, and (Monday) was a good day, and we seemed to capitalize on a bunch of opportunities. We had a little bit of luck — a ball hit a base — but sometimes you need those things.”

Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (2-2, 3.90 ERA) will make his seventh start of the season. He will look to bounce back from a bumpy performance against the New York Mets, who tagged him for seven runs (four earned) on seven hits in five innings on Thursday. New York won 10-8.

Ryan has 33 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings this season. Opponents have only a .208 batting average against him, average along with a .265 on-base percentage and a .367 slugging percentage for an OPS of .632.

This will be Ryan’s sixth career start against Seattle. In his previous five outings, he is 1-3 with a 4.13 ERA and has struck out 32 batters in 24 innings.

Seattle will counter with right-hander Logan Gilbert (1-3, 4.36), who also will make his seventh start of the season. Gilbert will seek to recover from his shortest stint of the season on Wednesday, as he allowed three runs on six hits in four innings in a no-decision vs. the Athletics. The Mariners won 5-4.

Gilbert is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in five career starts against the Twins. He has not faced them since the 2024 season, when he went 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA against Minnesota.

Cal Raleigh will look to stay hot at the plate for the Mariners. He homered in Monday’s series opener, which marked his seventh home run of the season and his fifth in the past seven games.

The Twins are 8-6 at home this season; Seattle is 4-9 on the road.

–Field Level Media

Cam Schlittler’s second season in the majors is going well.

Jacob deGrom’s second full season following his recovery from elbow surgery also is off to a strong start.

Schlittler and deGrom hope to turn in strong outings when the former leads the New York Yankees into the middle contest of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas.

The Yankees are 9-1 in their past 10 games and own an American League-best 3.18 ERA.

New York opened the series vs. Texas by getting six scoreless innings from Max Fried and three home runs in a 4-2 victory on Monday.

Schlittler (3-1, 1.77 ERA) did not face Texas last season, when he went 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA while striking out 84 batters in 73 innings over 14 starts. The right-hander has allowed two runs or less in four of his six starts this season and got a career-high 12 outs on the ground Thursday in Boston.

“He’s just getting really, really good out there. That’s an ace-like performance,” manager Aaron Boone said of Schlitter, who allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits in eight innings of a 4-2 victory over the Red Sox.

The Rangers, who are coming off their sixth loss in nine games, are 5-0 in deGrom’s starts this season. The right-hander (2-0, 2.13 ERA) has allowed three runs in his past four starts after a shaky season debut in Baltimore on March 31.

On Thursday, deGrom notched a season-high 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings of a 6-1 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates. He allowed a run on five hits.

“I thought that was the best he’s thrown all year,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “He was 98 miles an hour pretty consistently, dotting almost every fastball, 70-plus percent strikes. He threw a lot of first-pitch strikes; the slider was working off the fastball. It was exactly what we were hoping for. It was a really, really strong outing.”

The Yankees have seen plenty of deGrom from his time with the Mets, who did not retain him after the 2022 season. He is 2-4 with a 3.14 ERA in eight career starts against the Yankees and held them to two runs on three hits in seven innings of a no-decision last May 21.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner has held Aaron Judge to one hit in seven at-bats, and Cody Bellinger is 5-for-19 against him.

Judge has eight of his 11 homers in the past 15 games and reached base four times while collecting three hits on Monday. Ben Rice has six of his 10 homers in his past 11 games, and the duo hit consecutive homers as the Yankees went deep three times for the seventh time this season.

“Benny’s off to an amazing start and Judge ho-hum, 11 homers already,” Boone said Monday. “Really maybe his best game of at-bats tonight. It’s a pretty good combo there.”

Texas is coming off being held to two runs or less for the eighth time. Six of those instances have been at home, where the Rangers are batting .216.

Corey Seager is hitting only .183 over his past 22 games after striking out three times Monday.

“You can tell he’s grinding through some stuff for sure, but it feels like he’s just about to get hot,” Schumaker said about Seager, who is hitting .212.

–Field Level Media