For one night on the South Side, the White Sox looked less like a punchline and more like a problem. Rookie phenom Kazuma Murakami kept stacking historic numbers, prized debutant David Sandlin carved up the Twins lineup, and the scoreboard read like a typo. 14-1. In May. Against a division rival. Weird times at Rate Field.
Things didn't start clean. Byron Buxton, doing Byron Buxton things, jumped Sandlin in the first with a 417-foot missile at 106.3 MPH off the bat to put Minnesota up 1-0. That was the entire Twins highlight reel.
Buxton's first-inning blast off Sandlin was the only run the Twins would manage all night.
From there, Sandlin settled in and did the thing that has the South Side losing its mind. The stuff was loud, the command was louder, and a 12-6 curveball kept showing up in spots no Twins hitter could do anything with. The fact that the Red Sox tossed this guy into a trade is going to age like milk if he keeps spinning hooks like that.
The reaction to Sandlin's debut was equal parts giddy and bewildered at how the Sox even acquired him.
What an absolutely *outstanding* debut from David Sandlin. Mercy did he cruise. That stuff + that command will play ALL day long How in the hell did they get their hands on this dude?
While Sandlin was carving, the offense was doing demolition work. By the 7th inning the Sox were up 14-1, the dugout was loose, and Murakami stepped in and absolutely uncorked one — 432 feet, 108.3 MPH off the bat, his 20th home run of the year. The Southside Samurai nickname is officially earned at this point, and the rookie-to-20-before-June club is a list with exactly one name on it.
Murakami's 20th of the season at 432 feet, capping a 14-1 rout.
The whole thing turned into the kind of blowout where the local accounts started leaning into the bit, sarcastically anointing this team — yes, THIS team — as a legitimate problem in the American League. It's funnier because for one night, with Sandlin dealing and Murakami launching, it wasn't even wrong.
Tongue-in-cheek hype after the Sox piled on the Twins for a 13-1 cushion before Murakami made it 14.
One game doesn't fix the franchise. But a rookie hitting 20 bombs before June while your new arm flashes a true out-pitch breaker in his debut? That's the kind of night Sox fans bank for the lean stretches. Bury it in the time capsule next to the Murakami highlight reel.