Rikuu Nishida has impressive debut as White Sox top Twins

Munetaka Murakami provided an early blast. Then Japanese countryman Rikuu Nishida added a timely, flashy assist from right field in his major-league debut to help the White Sox hold off the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Monday at the Rate.

Murakami launched his 18^th home run in the first inning, an arching solo shot off Zebby Matthews to right field that ended the slugger’s seven-game longball drought. He hadn’t gone deep since hitting two for the first time in his career on May 16 against the Cubs.

Murakami swatted the first pitch he saw, a high, inside fastball, on a 41-degree angle. It tied the game at 1 before a juiced-up announced crowd of 30,114.

Murakami usually talks to reporters after homering, but this time, he deferred attention to Nishida, who made immediate impact after being called up from Triple-A Charlotte before the game.

“It went really fast,” Nishida said to reporters in English in the clubhouse after the game.

The Osaka native grounded a single up the middle in the fourth for his first hit after striking out swinging in his first at-bat on a 1-for-3 afternoon 

What the 5-foot-6, 150-pound Nishida did in the field was more electric.

He made seven putouts. Even better, Nishida cut down Orlando Arcia at the plate for the third out in the top of the second as Arcia tried to score from second on Alex Jackson’s single to right.

Nishida charged the ball and uncorked a bullet to catcher Drew Romo, throwing so hard that his left shoe fell off.

Arcia danced wide and evaded a tag, but also missed the plate. Romo applied the tag for the final out before Arcia could dive back and touch up.

“I tried to find my shoes, and when I was looked up, (Arcia) was already out,” quipped Nishida, who got a game ball from his teammates. 

The assist kept the game tied at 1, then Romo hit his fifth homer, a two-run-drive, in the bottom half of the second to put Chicago ahead 3-1 and for good.

"Especially in his debut, to make such a good throw on the money like that, that was impressive,” Romo said.

Among Nishida’s catches in right was one against the netting on Austin Martin’s foul fly to end the fifth with two runners on. He raced in to grab Luke Keaschall’s looper for the first out of the seventh, then narrowly missed hanging on following a longer run and a diving attempt on Jackson’s shallow pop with two outs.

Jackson was credited with a double, but reliever Grant Taylor fanned Byron Buxton to end the threat.

“It was hard to see (flyballs), said Nishida, who has played mostly at second base in the minors. “I feel like it was the first time I played in a big stadium like that, so it was hard to read."

The win moved the White Sox back over .500, to 27-26, and kept them in second place in the AL Central, 1 ½ games ahead of Minnesota. The Twins entered on a four game winning streak and having won six of seven.

Sox starter Anthony Kay allowed a solo shot to Minnesota’s Brooks Lee in the first, but settled in and won for the third time in his last four starts to improve to 4-1. The left-hander allowed five hits and  one walk while striking out five.

Over his last four starts, Kay has yielded five runs and 15 hits in in 22 1/3 innings to trim his ERA to 3.96 after it peaked at 6.11 on April 27.

“I knew I always had it in me,” Kay said.“Kind of a rough start to the season. Just having that conviction is massive."

Kay relied heavily on his sweeper, one of six pitches in his repertoire, against the Twins. “It was probably my best strike pitch today,” he said.

The bullpen came through, with Taylor, Bryan Hudson and closer Seranthony Dominguez throwing a scoreless inning each

Dominguez pitched the ninth for his 11^th save, but it wasn’t drama-free.  He appeared to have walked pinch hitter Tristan Gray leading off, but his sixth pitch – originally called a ball – was overturned to strike following Romo’s ABS challenge and Gray was called out.