Colson Montgomery Joins Chicago White Sox Record Books With Grand Slam

It represented the 31st grand slam ever by a White Sox rookie and the first since since Seby Zavala's rookie year on July 31, 2021. Montgomery became the 11th youngest player in White Sox history to hit a grand slam and the third youngest since 2000, joining Eloy Jimenez (2019 and 2020) and Yoan Moncada (2019).

Montgomery has seen the ball well in the first two contests of the 10-game homestand. On Friday, he went 2-for-5 with a double and a home run. That was especially good to see, given his 3-for-27 stretch at the plate in the previous seven games.

For Montgomery, it's all about countering opposing pitchers' adjustments.

"It can be frustrating and aggravating. You want to go up there and try to make a difference in a game. Sometimes I get pitches to do that on and I’ll admit it, I was trying to do too much," Montgomery said. "Swinging at pitches I haven’t been swinging at. You have to be patient and just assess and adjust at what they are doing and after that you go boom."

Finishing 2-for-4 with the third four-plus RBI game of his career, Montgomery raised his batting average to .229 and his OPS to .816 through the first 41 games of his Major League career.

He has long considered himself a power hitter, and Saturday's game further solidified that.

"I think I’ve always had some juice," Montgomery said. "Growing up and now I’m finally growing into my body and understanding my swing. I feel like that’s what it comes down to the most, using your whole body. So, I would say yeah, I’ve been a power hitter my whole life."

White Sox starter Davis Martin did enough to put the team in position to win, giving up two earned runs across five innings while striking out six batters and walking one.

"I thought he was really good tonight," Venable said. "Probably not as efficient in the zone as we’ve seen him, but just the one walk, the two solo homers. He was in control the whole time. Just a really nice job by Davis."

Left-hander Tyler Alexander gave up a solo home run in the seventh but held the Twins scoreless in the sixth and eighth innings. Luis Robert Jr. launched a 427-foot home run in the eighth, and Jordan Leasure closed it out in the ninth.

"That was an awesome swing. Feel like Luis has just been a click away, really quality at-bats," Venable said. "Obviously running extremely hard, playing great defense and it’s nice to see the power come, too."

With this win, the White Sox improved to 46-83. After losing Monday's series opener 9-7, they'll go for the series victory on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. CT with Yoendrys Gómez getting the start.