Luisangel

Acuña

Murakami hasn’t been a platoon bat for the White Sox this season, but he has slashed just .179/.331/.368 with six homers, 18 RBI and a 54/26 K/BB ratio over 145 plate appearances against southpaws this season, so maybe this will be a trend going forward. Miguel Vargas will shift over to first base with Colson Montgomery covering the hot corner and Luisangel Acuna drawing a start at shortstop and batting ninth against Cardinals’ left-hander Matthew Liberatore.

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.

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 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 fouled a ball off his right shin during a seventh-inning at-bat and was replaced by Luisangel Acuña at shortstop the following frame. The power-hitting 24-year-old shortstop will undergo X-rays to determine whether he suffered any fractures. There should be an update on his status prior to Tuesday’s contest.

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.

Acuña is up to 11 steals on the year now. He stole second and third base and scored on a throwing error by the catcher in the top of the third inning. Acuña also stole second base in the eighth inning. He’s hitting just .179 in limited playing time, but has shown he has speed to burn.

One of the reasons the Mets were willing to part with Acuña over the winter was that he was already out of options at age 24, and the speedster has spent this season looking like he belongs in Triple-A. He’s hitting .169/.235/.182 with one extra-base hit in 86 plate appearances. Acuña has pretty good bat speed, doesn’t strike out all that much and can run with anyone, so the tools are there. He’s just not ready yet.

The double, which was sent 378 feet to right-center, just missed being his first homer since 2024, when he somehow had three in 14 games for the Mets. He’s gone 112 games without one since. He’s much more prolific when it comes to stealing bases. He got his fifth tonight, making him 21-for-22 there since the beginning of last year.