After hitting his 14th homer, White Sox' Munetaka Murakami finally got his first double

ANAHEIM, Calif. — When Munetaka Murakami hit his 14th homer Monday night to tie Aaron Judge for the major league lead, White Sox announcer Len Kasper made it even more special by channeling the late Yankees play-by-play man John Sterling, who died that day of heart failure. He was 87.

“It’s high. It’s far. It’s gone,” Kasper said as he described Murakami’s prodigious fourth-inning, two-run blast into the shrubbery beyond the center field fence at Angel Stadium. “A moon shot for Mune.”

Nice. The homer landed 429 feet away from home plate and gave the Sox a 4-0 lead on their way to a 6-0 victory over the faltering Angels. The shot came off a 98.1 mph four-seam fastball from Los Angeles starter Jose Soriano.

But the bigger at-bat came two innings later when Murakami slashed a one-out double to right, his first in the major leagues in his 35th game.

“It was going to come sooner or later so I’m really happy the double is out of the way,” Murakami said through his interpreter Kenzo Yagi.

Murakami was not in the Sox lineup on Tuesday night in their rematch against the Angels. He was told to take a day off, but was available to pinch hit if needed.

“We gave him a heads up ahead of time,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “He and every one of us wants him to be in the lineup every day, but we just have to be mindful. We want to make sure he continues to play at a high level, and one way to do that is to give him a day off every once in a while.”

It’s not as if Murakami hasn’t hit doubles before. He hit 148 in eight seasons for the Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball and 173 overall between foreign play and the World Baseball Classic.

It was his first extra base hit for the Sox aside from the 14 homers. He’s had 30 hits overall, including 15 singles. Add 28 walks and he has an on-base percentage of .377, an OPS of .961 and an OPS+ of 164 even though he’s batting only .240. Talk about impact.

“He just continues to impress you with his power,” Venable added. “You saw a double, which was also great, his first one of the year. And yeah, he has tremendous power. He puts himself into position to get to that power by making good swing decisions.”

Sox add another pitcher

The Sox added right-handed relief pitcher Trevor Richards from the Phillies on Tuesday in exchange for cash considerations, the club said. Drew Thorpe, whose recovering from Tommy John surgery, was moved to the 60-day injured list to make room for Richards on the 40-man roster.

Richards will join the team on Friday when the Sox return to Chicago to play Seattle and another move will be made so he can be placed on the active roster, Venable said.

“I’ve seen him from the other side and I’m excited about getting him,” Venable added. “He has a really good change up. That’s his pitch. He’s in a really good spot right now.”

Venable also said he’s pleased that general manager Chris Getz continues to try and improve the team.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Venable said. “I really appreciate that about Getzy and the group. They’re always trying to improve this roster. There’s big moves he’s made, there’s little moves. They’ve all been pretty impactful. We’re trying to build and that’s really important.”