CLEVELAND — Munetaka Murakami hit a rocket to right field.

The Chicago White Sox first baseman took a couple of seconds to admire the blast, then tossed the bat and turned to his teammates in the dugout, yelling in excitement.

Murakami’s two-run home run in the fourth inning lifted the Sox to a 3-0 victory against the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 34,287 at Progressive Field.

Colson Montgomery added an RBI double in the seventh inning and the Sox held on to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Five Sox pitchers combined to shut down the Guardians, beginning with Hagen Smith.

The left-hander retired the first eight batters he faced, striking out four. With two outs in the third, he walked Brayan Rocchio. Steven Kwan then drew a four-pitch walk. José Ramírez worked a full count before walking to load the bases for Chase DeLauter.

The Sox brought in Bryan Hudson. The count went full before Hudson got DeLauter to line out to left fielder Randal Grichuk to end the threat and keep the game scoreless.

It didn’t remain that way much longer.

Miguel Vargas led off fourth for the Sox with a single to left field. Murakami then hit a first-pitch sinker 440 feet for the two-run blast, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead.

The Guardians attempted a comeback in the bottom of the fourth. Nathaniel Lowe walked with two outs. Anthony Kay replaced reliever Jordan Hicks and surrendered a double to Travis Bazzana — Cleveland’s first hit.

Austin Hedges walked, loading the bases for Rocchio. The shortstop had big hits against the Sox during the regular season, including a walk-off two-run home run on July 2. Kay got him to line out to right fielder Braden Montgomery to end the inning.

The Sox looked to add to the lead when the first two batters reached in the sixth. Reliever Erik Sabrowski struck out Murakami. Tommy Pham then hit a long fly to left field. Angel Martínez made a remarkable leaping catch. Vargas was out trying to get back to first base for an inning-ending double play.

Aggressive baserunning aided the Sox in the seventh.

Colson Montgomery hit a bouncer down the third-base line. Kyle Teel raced from first and got waved around at third. He scored as the ball got away from the catcher Hedges, stretching the Sox lead to 3-0.

Reliever Grant Taylor made it hold up, allowing only two hits over while striking out six over the final four innings to secure the Game 1 win.

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