{"id":31250,"date":"2026-05-30T01:07:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/white-sox-slugger-munetaka-murakami-exits-with-hamstring-tightness\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T01:07:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:07:01","slug":"white-sox-slugger-munetaka-murakami-exits-with-hamstring-tightness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/white-sox-slugger-munetaka-murakami-exits-with-hamstring-tightness\/","title":{"rendered":"White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami exits with hamstring tightness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<div class=\"byline-wrap\">\n<ul class=\"authors byline-authors\">\n<li class=\"single-author mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/i\/columnists\/full\/doolittle_bradford.png&amp;h=80&amp;w=80&amp;scale=crop\" alt=\"\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Bradford Doolittle<span class=\"timestamp \">May 29, 2026, 08:52 PM ET<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\"><a class=\"icon-font-after icon-close-solid-after\" href=\"#\">Close<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li>MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com<\/li>\n<li>Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com<\/li>\n<li>Been with ESPN since 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Multiple Authors<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>CHICAGO &#8212; <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"8f4800c6-3c05-b3d5-8186-9750cd72a3c2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/team\/_\/name\/chw\/chicago-white-sox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chicago White Sox<\/a> first baseman <a data-player-guid=\"37da30e0-9b6a-31a8-b783-083261547d7a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/4872595\/munetaka-murakami\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Munetaka Murakami<\/a> left Friday&#8217;s game against the <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"b27c64bf-4f18-f713-ba06-db1bce2394e7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/team\/_\/name\/det\/detroit-tigers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Detroit Tigers<\/a> in the third inning because of right hamstring tightness.<\/p>\n<p>According to a team announcement, Murakami was undergoing further evaluation to determine the severity of the injury.<\/p>\n<p>Murakami, 26, was legging out a possible double-play grounder hit to Detroit second baseman <a data-player-guid=\"b376a0d1-9e60-b7b9-b6a4-0653839f9520\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/38420\/zach-mckinstry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zach McKinstry<\/a>. The Tigers recorded a force out at second base but Murakami beat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/36953\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zack Short<\/a>&#8216;s relay throw to first, keeping the inning alive.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Picks<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a name=\"&amp;lpos=story:editorspicks:inline:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/48901348\/2026-mlb-labor-cba-mlbpa-first-proposals-lockout-salary-cap-floor\" class=\"img-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/photo\/2026\/0529\/r1664991_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&amp;w=130&amp;h=130&amp;scale=crop&amp;location=center\" width=\"65\" height=\"65\"\/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>However, Murakami grabbed at his right hamstring as the White Sox medical staff, manager Will Venable and interpreter Kenzo Yagi ran onto the field. After a brief conversation, Murakami left the game, occasionally grabbing at the hamstring as he walked.<\/p>\n<p>In the very short term, the injury might have benefited the White Sox. Murakami was replaced by pinch-runner <a data-player-guid=\"da0398cc-fd72-32d6-9f28-909570a6e5a8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/42411\/luisangel-acuna\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Luisangel Acuna<\/a>, a much swifter baserunner. The speedy Acuna scored on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/42453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Miguel Vargas<\/a>&#8216; double into the left field corner, a ball that Murakami may have struggled to score on.<\/p>\n<p>However, if Murakami were to miss any length of time, it would be a significant blow to the surprising White Sox, who entered play Friday with the fourth-best record in the AL despite coming off of three straight 100-loss seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Murakami, signed out of Japan to a two-year deal over the offseason, began the day tied for the AL lead with 20 home runs and stands as a leading AL Rookie of the Year candidate after two months of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bradford DoolittleMay 29, 2026, 08:52 PM ET Close MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com Former NBA writer and analyst for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/a2.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0530%2Fr1665592_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[212],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}