CHICAGO – “MVP!” “MVP!”

Those chants went up for Munetaka Murakami around 11:45 p.m. CT from the small number of people still left at Rate Field on Monday night for the White Sox 8-7 victory over the Angels. The game started at 9:40 p.m. following a 3-hour rain delay.

It’s a little early to be talking about the slugging first baseman from Japan as the top player in the American League. Maybe “Rookie of the Year” would be the better call, although not quite as rhythmic.

But Murakami once again made a winning difference during a seven-run seventh, lofting a three-run blast to right-center off southpaw Drew Pomeranz to erase a 5-4 deficit. It was Murakami’s Majors-high 12th home run of the season, giving him 13 singles and 12 homers overall. He had entered in a little 0-for-9 funk, but his first-inning single ended that drought.

With Chicago trailing by a 5-1 margin entering the bottom of the seventh, Zach Neto’s error on Sam Antonacci’s slowly hit grounder and Chase Meidroth’s bunt single against starter Jack Kochanowicz turned the game around. The game turned because the Angels had to go to their bullpen, with Nick Sandlin allowing Tristan Peters’ RBI single, hitting Edgar Quero with a pitch and yielding Andrew Benintendi’s two-run double before Murakami’s connection.

Miguel Vargas followed with a long homer off Pomeranz to increase the advantage. Monday’s contest also was Dog Day. But most of the dogs were gone by the time the White Sox offense started barking.

Murakami’s 12th home run left him tied with Will Smith (2019) for the fourth most in 29 career Major League games. Aristides Aquino at 14 (2018-19) and Rhys Hoskins at 13 (‘17) are the only ones ahead of him.