Montgomery homers and drives in 5 to rally White Sox past Rays
Colson Montgomery hit a three-run homer in the second inning and a two-run double in the eighth, rallying the Chicago White Sox to an 11-9 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night.
Kyle Teel launched his first major league homer for the White Sox, who trailed 4-0 after the first and 7-5 through seven. He finished with four hits and scored three times.
Chicago (37-66) took two of three games from the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field to complete a 5–1 trip.
Tampa Bay (53-50) has lost 11 of 16.
Montgomery, a rookie shortstop called up to the majors on July 4, connected off starter Taj Bradley for his second big league homer and set a career high with five RBIs.
Tampa Bay opened the bottom of the first with four straight hits off Jonathan Cannon, including two-run homers by Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero.
Handed a 4-0 lead, however, Bradley gave up four runs in the second and didn't get through the inning. He was optioned to Triple-A Durham after the game.
Chicago trailed 7-5 before scoring six times in the eighth. Teel singled home a run and Montgomery smacked a go-ahead double off the center-field wall. A throwing error by second baseman José Caballero allowed another run to score, and RBI singles by Mike Tauchman and Chase Meidroth capped the outburst.
Jordan Leasure (3-5) worked a scoreless seventh for the win. Dan Altavilla got three outs for his third major league save and second this season.
Key moment
Rays reliever Kevin Kelly (0-2) entered with a two-run lead and got only one out. He was charged with six runs, five earned, four hits and two walks.
Key stats
Cannon regrouped to strike out a career-high nine over 4 1/3 innings, but was tagged for six runs — five earned — and seven hits. ... Díaz's home run pushed him past 400 career RBIs.
Up next
The White Sox host the crosstown-rival Chicago Cubs on Friday night, with Adrian Houser (5-2, 1.89 ERA) on the mound.
Zack Littell (8–7, 3.52) starts Friday for the Rays in Cincinnati.