CHICAGO (Interstat) — Munetaka Murakami homered twice and drove in six runs as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Houston Astros 12-3 on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Murakami’s two-run homer in the first inning gave Chicago a 2-1 lead. He added a run-scoring groundout in the third and a two-run single during a four-run seventh. Junior Perez hit a pinch-hit two-run homer in the eighth, and Miguel Vargas also homered for the White Sox, who improved to 55-49.

Jeremy Peña homered twice for Houston, which fell to 52-55. The Astros scored one run each in the first, third and fifth innings but could not keep pace. Chicago broke the game open with four runs in the seventh and three in the eighth, finishing with 12 hits.

Sean Newcomb (1-2) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Ronel Blanco (0-1) took the loss, allowing five earned runs over 5 1/3 innings. Attendance was 32,581. The game lasted 2:44.