The Chicago White Sox already had scored twice in the second inning Saturday against the Minnesota Twins.
They were in position for more with Chase Meidroth on third base, Kyle Teel on second, Miguel Vargas on first and Colson Montgomery at the plate.
“Our guys were having long at-bats,” Montgomery said. “Teel drew a good walk, guys at the bottom of the order were scrappy. You could say they wore (Twins starter Mick Abel) down a little bit for the guys at the top of the order. Vargas had a really good at-bat too.
“I was just sticking with my approach, staying aggressive, knew he had to come at me, bases loaded. He didn’t want to walk another guy. Was just staying on the attack and trying to be short to the ball.”
Montgomery drilled a 1-0 sinker over the wall in right-center for the first grand slam of his career. It capped a six-run inning for the Sox in a 7-3 victory in front of 16,998 at Rate Field.
“It was nice,” Montgomery said. “I wasn’t trying to do too much. Trying to get the ball in the air. Just hit the ball forward. So I was able to put a good swing on it.”
Montgomery went 2-for-4 with four RBIs. It was his second straight multihit game and second consecutive game with a homer. He had been 2-for-19 before the back-to-back two-hit nights.
“I would say my struggles in the minor leagues help when you go through times like this,” Montgomery said. “It keeps you level-headed and you know you are one swing away. You have that kind of mindset.
“When you go through things, you kind of think about, ‘I need to get two hits, I need to get three hits.’ (But) just put one good swing on the ball and it can make a difference. I’ve been sticking to that approach. (Hitting coach) Marcus (Thames) and (assistant hitting coach) Joel (McKeithan) have done a good job of keeping me patient and not run wild trying to fix so many things.”
The rookie has 12 homers in 41 games with the Sox.
“He certainly seems like he’s got that (power) club in the bag,” manager Will Venable said. “For him, it’s just going to be a matter of getting good swings off on good pitches. He’s got the power in there, he just has to continue to take good swings.”
Montgomery became the 31st Sox rookie to hit a grand slam and first since Seby Zavala on July 31, 2021, against Cleveland.
“(We’ve) talked about (him) getting here (from the minors) and getting going with the power and knowing that he had to make an adjustment to the league as they adjust to him,” Venable said, “and I thought he’s done a nice job of that where the last couple of games he’s gotten back to what we saw coming out of the break.”
Luis Robert Jr. hit a solo home run in the eighth as part of a two-hit performance. The Sox finished with 10 hits and have scored at least seven runs in four of their last five games.
Saturday’s big inning came in the second. Andrew Benintendi and Robert singled. With one out, Meidroth knocked in Benintendi with a single. With two outs, Teel and Vargas walked. The Vargas walk brought home a run to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.
It also brought up Montgomery with the bases loaded, and he connected for the grand slam, making it 6-1.
“Talk about a nine-on-one offense, really good example there where we strung together consecutive good at-bats in a row,” Venable said. “Obviously the big grand slam by Montgomery, but really quality at-bats by Teel, Vargas and the guys at the bottom of the order as well.”
That was plenty for Sox starter Davis Martin, who allowed two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk in five innings.
“When the offense clicks that early, puts up that big of a number, all you’re trying to do is get them back in the dugout, continue to do damage,” Martin said. “Our goal was just to get strike one, first-pitch strike, so we did a really good job of that. Not walking people, not giving up a big inning.
“Solo (home runs) are fine when you’re up 6-1, so (I’m) happy with a lot of things we did. Just going to adjust on those two homers and learn from mistakes and move on.”
The power continued for the Sox in the eighth with the solo homer by Robert, his 14th of the season. The Sox (46-83) held on to snap a three-game slide.
“I was in here doing post-throw stuff and I heard that we just tied our division win total from last year (10),” Martin said. “That’s a huge step of improvement. We still have (four) series (plus Sunday’s game) against our division, and that’s a huge step forward.
“Those are teams that you’re going to see week in and week out. And obviously it’s not where we want to be — like, we’re still underperforming in that aspect — but it’s a big step forward and I think we just continue to build on that.”