MINNEAPOLIS — Colson Montgomery hit 10 home runs in August.
He began September with another long ball. Montgomery hit a 395-foot solo home run to right field in the second inning on Monday against the Minnesota Twins. Fellow rookie Chase Meidroth added a two-run home run later in the inning.
“(Meidroth) came into the dugout and he was like, ‘Dude, homers are sick,’” Montgomery said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, they are pretty sick.’”
Despite the early pop, the Sox found themselves trailing by one run in the eighth. But they rallied with back-to-back RBI doubles from Brooks Baldwin and Mike Tauchman to top the Twins 6-5 in front of 15,892 on Labor Day at Target Field.
“I feel like there have been countless games where it’s been decided by one run,” Montgomery said. “To get one of these, even though we lost the lead too, and we were able to rally back. Kind of just shows we are never out. Even one-run games, it shows as a team it’s not an easy game. We’ve got guys who can put the ball in the seats and guys who can hit the ball well.”
It took a large chunk of the bullpen to win the opener of the four-game series.
The Sox utilized seven pitchers, beginning with Fraser Ellard serving as the opener. The left-hander was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte, along with infielder Bryan Ramos, before Monday’s game.
“A lot of guys down there have a lot of confidence right now,” Jordan Leasure, who collected the save, said of the bullpen’s performance. “We used just about everybody and held those guys to (five) runs. It’s pretty great from a pitcher.”
The Sox took the early lead when Montgomery homered in his second straight game.
“It’s just another day,” Montgomery said. “Another new opportunity. Each at-bat, there’s just new opportunities. You never know what’s going to happen. All you can do is come in here, do your preparation, do your scouting on the pitchers and then just go out and compete.”
Montgomery is second on the team with 16 home runs.
“It’s great that he’s having the success he’s having because he’s put in a lot of work,” Meidroth said.
Monday’s home run leading off the second sparked a three-run inning. Curtis Mead followed with a single, the first of his three hits on Monday. With one out, Meidroth hit a 395-foot two-run home run to left. It was his fourth home run of the year.
“Just trying to get a pitch over the heart of the plate that I could drive,” Meidroth said. “Colson did a good job setting the tone for us there, that was a big home run there to get us going. Curtis, good at-bat right in front of me. It was just stringing at-bats together.”
The Twins chipped away, aided by a pair of defensive lapses by the Sox. With two outs in the second, Mead didn’t cleanly field a slow grounder to third by Royce Lewis and was charged with an error. Ellard walked the next two batters, loading the bases for Byron Buxton. Wikelman González entered and walked Buxton to bring in Lewis.
Buxton doubled with two outs in the fourth against reliever Cam Booser. He advanced to third on a wild pitch. Catcher Kyle Teel quickly recovered and tried to throw to third to get Buxton, but the ball sailed into left field. Buxton scored on the throwing error, cutting the Sox lead to 3-2.
The Sox responded with a run in the fifth when Baldwin doubled and scored on a single to center by Tauchman.
But Lewis homered leading off the sixth for the Twins against Brandon Eisert, making it a one-run game again. Edouard Julien doubled and was replaced by pinch runner DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Buxton to tie the score at 4.
The Twins took a 5-4 lead on an RBI single by Brooks Lee in the seventh against Tyler Alexander.
The Sox came right back in the eighth, with Baldwin and Tauchman coming through again. Baldwin tied the score with a two-out RBI double to right-center against reliever Justin Topa. Tauchman drove in Baldwin with a double four pitches later.
“Those guys were grinding, really the whole game, felt like we had quality at-bats,” manager Will Venable said. “They came through in the biggest moment there.”
The Sox (50-88) held on to capture their second consecutive one-run win after defeating the Yankees 3-2 on Sunday at Rate Field. The Sox are 11-30 in one-run games.
“The one-run games have been a hot topic this year, just how we’ve struggled to be honest, in those situations,” Venable said. “I know every one-run game is built differently, but to be in tight games and be able to execute what you need to execute and get to the finish line and get the ‘W’ really speaks to the growth of this team as we’ve seen us do a better job in those one-run games.”