Colson

Montgomery

Montgomery doubled in the first inning to bring a run home for the White Sox. With the game later tied in the eighth, he took Tim Herrin deep for a solo homer to give Chicago the lead. The 24-year-old slugging shortstop is up to 22 homers and 51 RBI while slashing .221/.308/.484 across 351 plate appearances.

Montgomery opened the scoring in the ballgame as he ambushed a first-pitch sinker from Ryan Weathers for a 420-foot (94.7-mph EV) solo shot to lead off the second inning. He also walked in the seventh and singled in the eighth inning, reaching three times in his four trips to the plate. For the season, the 24-year-old shortstop is now slashing .230/.325/.516 with 20 homers and 45 RBI.

Montgomery was practically the entire White Sox’s offense in this one. His three-run shot was the only blemish on Carlos Rodón’s line and he chipped in a solo blast later as well. That now gives him 19 homers on the season and we’re not even at the halfway point yet. Between last season and this one, Montgomery now has 40 home runs over the first 140 games of his career to go along with silky smooth defense at shortstop – an error he made in this game notwithstanding. A .225 batting average this season be darned, he’s a highly valuable ballplayer.

Montgomery also singled. His two-run blast off a wholly ineffective Jack Dreyer extended the lead for the White Sox to 4-1, and gave Montgomery his 17th homer of the season. It’d be nice to see a bump on his .223 average, but the power that Montgomery has shown in his first full professional season has (mostly) made up for it.

The 24-year-old slugger had missed the team’s last two games after tweaking his back. He’s back at shortstop and in the cleanup spot for the White Sox against Dodgers’ right-hander Roki Sasaki on Friday evening in Chicago.

Montgomery told reporters he tweaked his back a couple weeks ago. He’ll continue receiving treatment and is likely to sit out Thursday’s series finale as well. It doesn’t sound like he’s in danger of requiring a trip to the injured list. It’ll be Luisangel Acuña handling shortstop once again in his absence.

White Sox manager Will Venable told reporters that Montgomery is day-to-day for now. The 24-year-old shortstop is hitting just .154 (4-for-26) with two homers and three RBI over his last seven games. Luisangel Acuña, who does not switch-hit, will take over at shortstop in his absence.

Montgomery joins Tampa Bay’s Taylor Walls as the only players this season to go 0-for-6 with four K’s in a game. His two balls in play were actually 106- and 101-mph lineouts, but he wasn’t rewarded for either. He ends the series against the Twins having gone 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts.

Montgomery erased a 1-0 deficit as he clobbered a one-out, 373-foot (100.9 mph EV) solo shot off of Drew Anderson in the seventh inning, sparking the go-ahead rally. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the afternoon. The 24-year-old shortstop is now hitting .235/.329/.498 with the aforementioned 15 long balls, 36 RBI and one stolen base on the season.

The 372-foot homer off Beau Brieske was Montgomery’s first since he homered in three straight games from May 14-16. He was 3-for-29 with 13 strikeouts from May 17-25, but he seems to have snapped out of that little skid with eight hits in his last five games.