With one swing, Montgomery turns White Sox fortunes vs. Nats

WASHINGTON -- Anything can change with one swing.

Those words of wisdom said by Colson Montgomery postgame perfectly summed up a 10-9 victory for the White Sox over the Nationals on Friday night at Nationals Park, which ended a five-game losing streak for the South Siders. His quote spoke volumes in both a positive and negative way.

The White Sox built an 8-1 lead through the top of the fifth behind three hits and three RBIs from Lenyn Sosa, who finished a triple shy of the cycle. They watched that lead get clipped to 8-5 before Jordan Leasure on the mound in the eighth.

Leasure’s appearances have been nothing but good news of late, as he entered with a 14-inning scoreless streak dating back to Aug. 26, holding opponents to a .048 batting average (2-for-42) over that span. However, the Nationals (65-95) picked up three hits and four runs over five hitters vs. Leasure, with the third home run of the game from Luis Garcia Jr. giving them a 9-8 advantage.

Then, it was Montgomery’s turn in the top of the ninth

After Kyle Teel reached on Jose A. Ferrer’s one-out fielding error -- Washington’s fourth miscue of the night -- Montgomery connected on a center-cut 0-1 sinker for his 20th home run of the season.

That’s 20 home runs and 53 RBIs in just 69 games for Montgomery, who extended his hitting streak to eight straight after striking out three times in his first four hitless at-bats.

One swing. Game changed.

“Everyone was still focused,” Montgomery said. “We’ve had comeback wins before, this year, this half. Nobody really folded or anything like that. We knew that somebody could swing once and make a difference.”

“Obviously, they did a good job slugging tonight. There were a lot of homers on their side,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “They did a great job coming back, and [we] did a good job of countering there in the ninth and a big knock by Colson.”

Washington knocked out six homers, marking just the third time in White Sox history in which the team won a game while allowing six or more long balls. The previous two came on May 28, 1995, and July 2, 2002 -- both against the Tigers.

Even with the late momentum swing from Montgomery, the victory still wasn’t quite secure. Rookie Grant Taylor allowed a leadoff single in the ninth to the fleet-footed Nasim Nuñez, followed by a slick running catch by Derek Hill in left-center field on a James Wood line drive. Taylor then struck out CJ Abrams and Andres Chapparo to secure his sixth career save.

“If it was tied or taking the lead, I'm in the game. So I was already hot, already rolling. Just excitement and then getting right back to it,” Taylor said. “We showed after the All-Star break how electric this offense can be at times.

“Putting up 10 runs in any Major League ballgame is awesome. That was unbelievable."

Entering this final weekend of the 2025 regular season, the White Sox had lost 11 of 12 and scored just 27 total runs over those 12 games. Seven of those 27 came in an 8-7 loss to the Orioles on Sept. 16.

This rough stretch dropped the White Sox to 58-101, and it would have been easy for this group to mail in these last three games and set their sights on vast improvement in 2026. It would have been even easier to go that direction after the Nationals’ comeback, but this team has shown to be resilient for most of this campaign.

“We've got 100 losses. That could be really hard for us and we could really get down in the dumps and we could've [given up],” Taylor said. “But I think there are a lot of guys in here who are continuing to get after it.

“There are a lot of guys who are in the weight room before the game even started. It's game [160] and we're not in the postseason, so a lot of guys could have packed their bags and went home. But everyone here wants to win ballgames."

That resiliency was steeped this night on one game-altering swing from Montgomery, who is the first White Sox rookie with a 20-homer season since Eloy Jiménez in 2019.

“It says a lot about his progress, his development, how he’s handling failure,” said Venable of Montgomery. “I know there was a lot of frustration with him with the first few at-bats there, and to be able to recalibrate there and get back on track and give us a shot with that big swing is great.”

“Sometimes in those situations, it kind of calms you down, you try to do one job. Put the ball forward, keep the train rolling for the guys behind us,” said Montgomery, before pausing and adding, “So, it’s sick.”