White Sox Fall 4-3 As Martin Returns From Injury, Montgomery Slugs First Home Run

TAMPA, Fla. –– All good things must come to an end. That was the case for the White Sox on Tuesday, as their season-high four-game win streak was snapped with a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

That doesn’t mean the White Sox are done playing competitive baseball, though. They had a chance to tie the Rays until the final pitch on Tuesday before suffering their 23rd one-run loss of the season –– tied for second most in MLB behind the Braves with 24. 

"I think even that whole game down 4-2 for the most part and you just felt in the dugout everybody felt we were going to have opportunities," Davis Martin said. "We fell short. Normally it’s fold the tents, pack it up, we’ll go get them tomorrow. It’s 27 outs, we are fighting, grinding for 27 outs. It’s great. Going into outings as well, it’s no longer, you want to win. You lose and you’re pissed. It’s not like how it’s been in the past

The game began with excitement surrounding Martin’s return from a right forearm strain, which kept him out of major league action since June 12. At the time of his injury, Martin led the team with 80.2 innings, while recording a 3.79 ERA and seven quality starts.

The right-hander looked sharp to start, with a 1-2-3 inning against the top of the Rays’ order. He caught All-Star first baseman Jonathan Aranda looking at a changeup painted on the low and outside corner to end the inning.

But Martin immediately fell into control issues in the second, walking Junior Caminero and Josh Lowe on 11 total pitches. After a groundout, Martin walked former White Sox catcher Matt Thaiss and let in the first run on a balk.

In the next at-bat, Jose Caballero’s blooper fell in shallow center field to bring home two more runs. Caballero advanced to third on a throwing error by Michael A. Taylor, then came in to score on a Taylor Walls groundout. That gave the Rays a 4-0 lead against Martin through two innings. 

Martin attributed the walks to his mechanics.

“[Pitching coach Ethan] Katz and I looked at it in between innings, and we were crazy over rotating on the front side,” Martin said postgame. “Once we fixed that, everything was right where we wanted it to be. I hated it had to take three walks and four runs to learn it, but we learned it.”

It was another steamy night in Tampa, which added another factor for Martin to handle.

“Going into it, you don’t want to think about it. It’s another game. You are in a humid, hot environment and you have to do some things you don’t normally do,” Martin said. “Being inside, cooling off in between innings to cry to combat it. It was hot and sweaty but you still have to compete and do your job.”

Martin bounced back well with an eight-pitch third inning, inducing an inning-ending double play against All-Star Junior Caminero after an Aranda single. His offspeed pitches retired the Rays in order in the fourth, and he struck out Diaz with a changeup to get out of the fifth.

Venable hoped for four or five innings out of Martin, whose outing went according to plan in that respect. He finished with five innings, three hits, four runs, three earned runs, four walks, three strikeouts and 76 pitches.

The White Sox weren’t going to push Martin too much in his first start back from injury, though he felt he could have gone deeper into the game.

“Proud and happy where I was at with how bad the second inning was. Still had an opportunity to throw six-plus if I wasn’t on a pitch count,” Martin said. “That’s what I want to be. I want to consistently be the six-plus innings guy, give our bullpen a breather and attack the zone. I had some gas in the tank.”

“It’s the bittersweet part of it. I’m happy I felt back to who I was and who I am as a pitcher before I got hurt. The fact that the injury felt great, forearm felt good, no issues there.”

The White Sox got two runs back in the fourth inning, as Chase Meidroth drove in Mike Tauchman and Edgar Quero hit a sacrifice fly. Tyler Alexander and Mike Vasil have been two of the White Sox most reliable relievers this season, and they kept the game close with three combined scoreless innings, featuring six strikeouts, one walk and two hits. 

Rookie infielder Colson Montgomery tried to start a rally in the seventh, as he blasted the first home run of his major league career 359 feet over the right field fence off of Rays reliever Bryan Baker. 

He had a good feeling it was going to stay fair, and he knew it had the distance as it left his bat with a 105.7 mph exit velocity. 

“It was good. I wouldn't really say I was pressing about getting my first big league homer,” Montgomery said. “I was leading off that inning, so I just knew I had to kind of get on base, do whatever I could for the guys to get something rolling. Laid off a good pitch previous, and then he threw me a fastball down the middle and I was able to catch it out front."

But the White Sox would put just one base runner on for the rest of the game. They had been scorching hot at the plate, becoming the first team in MLB history to win each of their first four games out of the All-Star break by five-plus runs and scoring a major-league leading 35 runs. Keeping up that pace wouldn’t be possible for any team, but Venable remained pleased with his team’s offensive approach.

“I thought it was good,” Venable said. “After the first inning, really the first time through our order. I think it was tough to see early and the second time around we got some good swings off. Was really happy with the offensive effort, just continuing to grind. Some really good arms over there. I thought we were in a good spot offensively, just not enough.”

The White Sox and Rays' rubber match is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday in Tampa, with Jonathan Cannon taking the mound for Chicago against Tampa right-hander Taj Bradley.