CLEVELAND — Braden Montgomery has played in only 24 major-league games, but he doesn’t play or sound like a rookie.
He extended his on-base streak to 15 games with a walk in the sixth inning of the Sox’ game Sunday against the Guardians. In that stretch, he has slashed .259/.359/.426 with six doubles, one home run, four RBI, nine runs and nine walks.
“It’s a daily battle trying to figure out how you’re going to make it happen against a guy each day,” Montgomery told the Sun-Times. “You’re getting different angles, different releases, different pitch shapes and profiles. So you’ve just got to do your daily work and figure out how you’re going to make it happen that day.”
He has thighs the size of tree trunks — as some hard-throwing pitchers do — giving him a solid foundation and the ability to drive the ball.
“I think he’s learning the league, he’s learning how he’s being attacked,” manager Will Venable said. “He’s still making his adjustments, but he’s just so consistent in his approach and his attitude towards these at-bats and this opportunity. Part of that is making adjustments, and I think he’s doing a nice job of that.”
All the while, he has played a strong right field while learning different ballparks and surfaces. He looks at ease catching fly balls and has shown a strong arm.
But his biggest impact has come at the plate, from where he capped a memorable first big-league game June 9 with a walk-off home run. He has hit just one homer since, but with his mindset, that number figures to change.
“Do the best you can to give yourself the best chance to be successful,” he said. “You take it pitch by pitch. Every single pitch is its own individual case. The more you hang on to previous pitches or try to get too ahead of yourself, the more you’ll mess yourself up on the given pitch.”
Richards steps up in pen
The Sox’ bullpen is unique in that it has few defined roles, particularly since Venable moved Seranthony Dominguez out of the closer role. Six relievers have opened and closed games.
Right-hander Trevor Richards has been an exception. He generally has entered games in which the Sox are losing or the margin is at least four runs either way. But he entered a tied game Friday and kept the Guardians off the board in the eighth and ninth innings. Then he entered Sunday with a one-run lead in the seventh and pitched 1 ⅓ innings.
Perhaps Richards’ role is expanding to more high-leverage situations. He said more teams are going the way of bullpen by committee these days.
“A lot of it depends on the people you have because it’s a different mentality,” he told the Sun-Times. “I would say half of our bullpen is locked in from [inning] one through nine. You’re ready to go all game long, which takes its toll over the course of the year, but you also get used to it and adapt. I think most of our guys handle it well.”
Delay delayed further
The game Sunday was delayed twice, first by rain and then by the warning track.
The scheduled 1 p.m. start time was first moved to 1:30. After the national anthem was performed and the lineups introduced, it was delayed further, then moved to 2:30. The rain had flooded parts of the warning track, and the grounds crew needed more time.
Sox manager Will Venable, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and the umpires spent time inspecting the track during the delay. The Guardians explained the situation in a statement:
“The grounds crew flagged the warning track was not going to be ready in time for the [1:30 p.m. Central] first pitch. Both field managers and the umpires agreed that more time was needed to improve the condition of the track, which forced the pushed-back start time.”