Colson Montgomery exits after fouling ball off leg

Antonacci and Montgomery take a seat with lefty MacKenzie Gore toeing the rubber for Texas in this one. Luisangel Acuña is at shortstop with Tristan Peters in left field. The 23-year-old rookie will continue to cede the occasional start against a southpaw for the final months of the year. It’ll be Miguel Vargas moving up to the leadoff spot in a strange-looking lineup from Chicago manager Will Venable.

Montgomery is 0-for-13 with nine strikeouts the last three days, and he’s hitting just .188/.254/.313 in 33 games since the break. His strikeout rate is currently sitting at a dreadful 34 percent, which is up from 29 percent in 71 games as a rookie last year. It’s not a good sign for the future.

After a two-hour and 23-minute rain delay interrupted play following the first inning, the White Sox plated four runs in the third inning, which was punctuated by Montgomery’s three-run shot which landed beyond the fence in the right field corner. Montgomery entered Sunday’s action with a .136 batting average over his last 11 games, so hopefully this will get him going in the right direction. The White Sox won two out of three this weekend and hold a 2.5 game edge over the Tigers in the AL Central. After this weekend, the Guardians are four games back.

Once again we see Antonacci sitting with a left-hander on the hill as he appears to be locked into a strong-side platoon role at the moment with the White Sox. Luisangel Acuna will start in his place in left field and will bat ninth against Red Sox’ southpaw Ranger Suarez on Thursday evening at Fenway Park.

Montgomery has just one hit in his last five games, though that was a homer. Still, he’s down to .215/.295/.450 at the moment, giving him both his lowest average and OPS since late April. He’s batting .191 with 10 homers and six doubles since the beginning of June, compared to .234 with 15 homers and 11 doubles over the first two months.

Montgomery was held out of Sunday’s game against the Astros with a shin injury, but returned as the DH against the Yankees on Monday. The 24-year-old got on base four times and had two RBI and a run scored in the loss. He’s hitting .224 with a .769 OPS and 61 RBI.

Montgomery returns to Chicago’s lineup at DH and hitting cleanup following a one-game absence after fouling a ball off his lower right leg for the second time in the last week. The 24-year-old slugger will probably need a couple extra days of rest and treatment before he’s able to return to playing shortstop, but it seems highly unlikely that he’ll require a trip to the injured list.

Montgomery fouled a ball off of his shin during the ninth inning of Saturday’s battle against the Astros. It was the second time in less than a week that he fouled a ball off of the same spot and was still experiencing soreness after receiving treatment on Saturday evening, so the White Sox will play it safe and give him a full day off to recover on Sunday. Luisangel Acuña will start in his place at shortstop and bat eighth against Astros’ righty Ronel Blanco.

Montgomery finished his at-bat in the ninth despite again getting himself in the same area of the shin that cost him Tuesday’s game. “It was just above where it got him the other day, so pretty sore,” manager Will Venable said. “Obviously was able to finish that at-bat. He’ll get treatment and see where we’re at tomorrow.”

Let’s try this again. Montgomery is back at shortstop and hitting cleanup after being scratched from Tuesday’s lineup out of an abundance of caution. The 24-year-old slugger suffered a contusion when he fouled a ball off his right shin during Monday’s series opener. It doesn’t appear to be a significant concern moving forward.