Braden Montgomery getting a night off on Friday

The double came on a grounder down the first base line that deflected off Michael Busch’s glove. Montgomery is 8-for-25 with six RBI in his last six games, putting him at .238/.328/.374 overall.

Montgomery got the White Sox on the board first with a two-out RBI single off of Jackson Jobe in the top half of the first inning. He then delivered a two-run triple in the fourth that extended his club’s lead to 6-3. With his three-hit attack, the 23-year-old outfielder is now slashing .237/.329/.381 with four homers and 27 RBI in 222 plate appearances.

Montgomery’s solo homer in the second inning cut the Guardians’ lead to 2-1. It was the fourth homer of the season for Montgomery, whose last homer came on July 12th. He’s now hitting .236/.316/.701 on the season with four homers and 23 RBI.

Montgomery is back in right field and hitting eighth after being scratched from Sunday’s lineup with a skin infection on his right ankle. It doesn’t appear to be a concern moving forward.

Doyle is now officially a member of the White Sox, who do happen to have an All-Star in center field in Tristan Peters. It remains to be seen what type of role Doyle will have, but there’s a chance he’s just a weak-side platoon, and a defensive replacement.

Doyle was just activated from the 10-day injured list on Friday and went 2-for-7 with a double, a run, and an RBI in two games. The 28-year-old has struggled with injuries this season, but he looked great on his rehab assignment and slashed .260/.317/.446 in 149 games in 2024 with 23 home runs and 30 steals while playing elite defense in center field. His value obviously takes a hit outside of Coors Field, but if he is the regular center fielder in a good White Sox lineup, he will retain some deep league value. Mason Adams is a 26-year-old starting pitcher in Triple-A who has yet to make his MLB debut, and Vielma is a 16-year-old shortstop in the Dominican Summer League.

The issue isn’t believed to be serious and shouldn’t require a trip to the injured list. Montgomery is considered day-to-day. Everson Pereira will start in his place in right field and bat eighth for the White Sox against Griffin Jax and the Rays on Sunday afternoon in Tampa Bay.

While Doyle has struggled during his time with the Rockies this season, his bat showed signs of life during his minor league rehab assignment — hitting .395/.447/.651 with a pair of homers and eight RBI in 47 plate appearances. He’ll have to battle a crowded outfield mix for playing time, but we have seen what Doyle is capable of when he’s running hot, which keeps him on the fringe of mixed league consideration.

Fernando Cruz got a huge double play ball in the 10th to send the game to the 11th, but he couldn’t come up big again after getting no lead to work with. Munetaka Murakami was intentionally walked to start the inning. Cruz struck out Miguel Vargas, but then Sam Antonacci collected an infield single. Cruz bounced back to strike out Colson Montgomery after falling behind 3-0, but he then walked Peters on four pitches. Peters, a very surprising AL All-Star, didn’t start the game against lefty Ryan Weathers, but he was in his second plate appearances off the bench. He’s hitting .095/.188/.119 in 48 plate appearances since the break.

Randal Grichuk will start in left field and bat fourth, while Everson Pereira will start in center field and bat sixth. Both Antonacci and Tristan Peters will head to the bench, and both players seem to be falling into strong-side platoons. It makes some sense since Antonacci has hit .200/.288/.231 in 74 plate appearances against lefties this season.