SAN FRANCISCO — Colson Montgomery had options — but not much time — when Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner hit a slow grounder the White Sox shortstop’s way in the sixth inning of a City Series game Saturday at Rate Field.
“Once it was hit off the bat — Nico, he’s a really good runner too — I thought right away it was a bare-hand play,” Montgomery said Sunday. “And then as I got closer to it, it was hit a little harder than I thought. So, I was a little in between of getting a glove on it.
“But I just went with my instincts and that’s what most of that is.”
Montgomery charged, fielded the ball with his bare hand and threw to first in time to retire Hoerner.
“You look at (if) Nico Hoerner gets on there, and then it’s a huge inning,” starter Davis Martin said after the 8-3 Sox victory. “(Miguel) Amaya hits the home run (to begin the inning) and then you can (potentially) have the leadoff guy (Hoerner) right after that’s on base and things start speeding up a little bit. For Colson to nip that energy in the bud a little bit, it was awesome.”
As much as offense is discussed when it comes to Montgomery, and with 13 home runs entering Friday’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park there is a reason why, he also has been dependable on defense.
Montgomery said he takes “the most pride” in that part of his game.
“Just because I was questioned a lot about it coming up through the minor leagues, just because of my size (6-foot-3) and things like that,” Montgomery said. “I come in every single day, do whatever I can to get my body and my mind ready to play the best nine innings of defense that I can.
“I have good teammates. I like watching (second baseman) Chase (Meidroth) take ground balls. I like watching Mune (Munetaka Murakami at first base) and (Miguel) Vargas (at third base). We also have good coaches, too, who have helped out a lot.”
Montgomery’s all-around game was on display that night against the Cubs. In addition to the sharp defense, he hit a 442-foot home run in the third inning. It was one of five homers from Sox batters in the game (Murakami hit two, while Vargas and Andrew Benintendi had one).
Montgomery, Murakami and Vargas are just the third trio in Sox history to homer in the same game four times in a season. They joined Joe Crede, Paul Konerko and Jose Valentin in 2004 (a major-league-record-tying five times) and Konerko, Magglio Ordóñez and Frank Thomas in 2002 (four).
“It just takes a lot of pressure off a lot of us,” Montgomery said of batting in a lineup with Murakami and Vargas. “We have runners on base (in the first inning of the May 16 game), I’m on-deck and I’m (thinking), ‘Vargas, he draws a lot of walks.’ Then he hits a three-run homer and it’s like, ‘All right, now we are rolling.’ It takes the pressure off of everything.
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“Same thing with Mune, giving us insurance runs with his two homers. It’s a credit to (leadoff batter) Sam (Antonacci), he gets on base at a high rate — and even the bottom of the lineup guys, there are not easy outs. We are a team that if you are going to walk us, we are going to take our walks and make each at-bat as hard as it can be.”
It’s a formula that has helped the Sox to second place in the American League Central. As has the defensive efforts from the likes of Montgomery.
“Just consistency,” manager Will Venable said Sunday of Montgomery’s defense. “We’ve seen him make the rangy play, make the play like (on Hoerner’s grounder) where he’s coming in. A lot of it for some of these guys is just making the routine play. And (he) has just been incredibly consistent in making the plays he should.
“And then he’s able to tap into the athleticism and make some special plays as well. Really good stuff from Colson, but just the overall consistency has been impressive.”