Montgomery (wrist) out of White Sox lineup while recovering from HBP

CHICAGO – The good news for the White Sox and shortstop Colson Montgomery is that X-rays on his left wrist came back negative after being hit squarely in that area by a Parker Messick pitch during the fourth inning and eventually departing Chicago's 6-3 loss to the Guardians Wednesday in Cleveland.

But the bad news for Montgomery and the White Sox playoff push over these final 10 games is he was out of action for Thursday’s series opener against the Tigers.

“Still pretty sore. Just continue to get treatment and kind of day to day,” White Sox manager Will Venable said of Montgomery. “We’ll see. I can’t really predict how he’s going to respond to the treatment, but the hope is that he does respond well, and we’ll see where he’s at tomorrow.”

Montgomery left Wednesday after he was unable to swing the bat. The 24-year-old swung Thursday, but “there’s still a lot of pain involved in him swinging,” according to Venable. Montgomery’s 31 homers are tied for sixth in the American League, lead all Major League shortstops and set a franchise record for White Sox shortstops, topping Jose Valentin’s previous mark of 30 in 2004.

His 211 strikeouts rank third in White Sox history behind Adam Dunn (222 in 2012) and Yoán Moncada (217 in 2018), making them the only franchise players to top 200 in a single season. Mark Reynolds holds the Major League record with 223 in ‘09.

Despite being 1-for-30 with 18 strikeouts in his past 10 games, Montgomery’s presence will be missed. Tommy Pham (who launched a go-ahead, three-run home run against Cleveland Wednesday), Randal Grichuk and Brenton Doyle were in Thursday’s lineup against southpaw Framber Valdez, with Luisangel Acuña at shortstop.

“Yeah, that’s kind of what we have to do all year. I think that’s just baseball, too,” Rookie of the Year candidate Tristan Peters said of covering for Montgomery’s injury absence. “Picking up where somebody else left off. When Mune [Murakami] was hurt, guys had to step up.

“Randal Grichuk has been hitting really well lately. Picking up some slack. Our offense has been looking pretty good the last couple of days. We’ve been hitting some balls hard. I’m looking forward to these next few days.”

Castillo to the bullpen
David Sandlin is listed as Friday’s starter for the White Sox, although he could end up being a bulk hurler following an opener. Luis Castillo, who was acquired at the Trade Deadline from the Mariners, will move to relief work over the final 10 games.

“We talked to Luis,” Venable said. “The next opportunity for him will be coming out of the bullpen. So we’ll look and see what that looks like exactly. But he won’t start a game in that spot on that Sandlin day.”

Castillo has a 7.76 ERA over seven games (six starts) with the White Sox, covering 29 innings.

Anderson's honor
Tim Anderson never had the chance to throw out a first pitch after being selected 17th overall by the White Sox in the 2013 Draft, as his originally scheduled game to do so was rained out before anyone arrived. So he was happy to get the opportunity Thursday, as the White Sox honored their electric talent at shortstop, who was once the face of MLB during his eight seasons in Chicago.

“I’ve been watching [the weather] all day,” Anderson said with a laugh. “The ultimate goal is to be free. That's where I'm at. Free and happy and at peace. But ultimately just being happy. That's where I'm at."

Anderson talked to MLB.com Tuesday about this recognition following his retirement, which included the White Sox wearing the Nike City Connect “Southside” uniforms as a way to honor him against the Tigers. He had almost no regrets regarding his career, aside from leaving Chicago.

“Nah. I don’t have any regrets,” Anderson said. “The biggest thing is ... I just wish that I could have just stayed a White Sox. It would have just been that, I would have been cool with that. When I left, it didn’t really feel the same.”