Colson Montgomery hits his 10th home run — all since the All-Star break — in Chicago White Sox loss

Chicago Tribune

16 hours ago

Chicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery crushed another home run.
But Spencer Torkelson hit a go-ahead solo home run off the left-field foul pole in the ninth inning and the Detroit Tigers held on to defeat the Sox 2-1 on Monday in front of 16,054 at Rate Field.
The game featured a 63-minute rain delay during the top of the ninth.
Montgomery homered for the second straight game. His liner to right leading off the fifth just remained fair for a game-tying home run.
'I feel great,' Montgomery said. 'I just feel like each day is a new opportunity for something to happen. Some nights aren't your night and some nights are. I feel like in this game, what I'm learning now, you have to try to stay as consistent as you can and as neutral as you can.
'You can't get too caught up in the highs and the lows. Every single night you are going to get your other team's best. It's business and you are trying to win games. I feel good.'
He has 10 home runs, all since the All-Star break.
'I wouldn't really say I'm surprised by any of it,' Montgomery said. 'You just never know what's really going to happen until you get here in the big leagues and you face pitching. I'm pretty happy with how things are going right now. It just comes down to what me, (hitting coach) Marcus (Thames) and (assistant hitting coach) Joel (McKeithan) are doing in the cage every single day. Staying consistent in my routines.
'The biggest thing is not trying to do too much.'
What Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable is focusing on during the final 2 months of the seasonThe Sox were in position to draw even thanks to solid contributions from the bullpen. Tyler Alexander allowed two hits and one walk while striking out five in 4 1/3 scoreless innings following opener Elvis Peguero, who allowed one run on three hits with three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.
'There was the one run but he did a really nice job,' manager Will Venable said of Peguero. 'We were going to go batter by batter after that first inning. There were a couple spots where we could have dropped Alexander in but that was the best-case scenario for us with Peguero. He did an amazing job.'
Venable added: 'Tyler was outstanding. Another outing where we need coverage. We needed someone to step up and give us quality. And again, he stepped up and did that for us.'
Peguero said through an interpreter of his Sox debut, which was also his first MLB start and first start at any level since Aug. 20, 2019, against Johnson City with the rookie league Pulaski Yankees: 'Ever since I knew I was starting today, my focus was on taking this game as a reliever. I wasn't thinking anything else about it.'
Steven Wilson and Grant Taylor each pitched one scoreless inning.
'As far as today, those guys did an outstanding job and kept us in the game,' Venable said of the relief work. 'We couldn't muster anything offensively and they gave us a chance there throughout the game. We're in a tough spot bullpen-wise, we needed to get outs and they did that tonight.'
Montgomery robbed Wenceel Pérez of a single, leaping to make a catch to begin the ninth.
'(Reliever Brandon) Eisert, he's pitching his butt off,' Montgomery said. 'It was a late situation in the game, tried to stop their momentum and didn't really see it go in my glove. Just went in my glove.'
Torkelson then hit a 1-0 fastball from Eisert for the go-ahead home run.
The game was paused because of rain with two outs in the top of the ninth. It concluded with Cam Booser throwing one strike in the top of the ninth for a strikeout and then the Sox getting retired in order on a strikeout and two grounders in the bottom of the ninth.
While the Sox came up short, they continued to see Montgomery's progression. He is the third rookie in Sox history to hit 10 home runs over his first 32 career games, joining José Abreu in 2014 (12) and Zeke Bonura in 1934 (10).
'He continues to have good at-bats and put himself in a really good position to hit the ball hard,' Venable said. 'It seems like every day he's doing something positive at the plate. Certainly doing positive things defensively. Really nice to see a young guy go out there and perform like he's performing.
'Just continues to throw out great performances night after night.'