KANSAS CITY -- There’s no reason to panic.
This message was delivered by White Sox manager Will Venable during his team’s hitters' meeting prior to Saturday’s contest at Kauffman Stadium. They were words the White Sox position players needed to have reinforced.
They were words ringing true across the roster Sunday, as the South Siders grabbed a 6-5 victory over the Royals in a game delayed by rain for three hours to earn a four-game series split. And the offense responded to Venable’s words of encouragement with better plate appearances and better results, knocking out seven hits, drawing five walks, and scoring their first five runs with two out.
“I wouldn’t say anyone is really panicking," shortstop Colson Montgomery told MLB.com, before doubling and launching his sixth career home run against a southpaw during the series finale. “We feel stress and everything like that, because you want to go out there and you want to play well, put up runs. In April, it’s kind of tough. I feel like you see a lot of low scoring games, not much offense.
“It just goes back to what our coaches have been telling us. Just come in, prepare your [butt] off, work hard, do everything you can do before the game and once you get out there, just whatever happens, happens.”
Tanner Murray’s first career home run, coming with two outs in the second off Royals starter Noah Cameron, ended the drought without White Sox runs at 21 straight innings. Murray’s connection also squelched a stretch of 230 White Sox at-bats without a long ball.
Montgomery connected seven batters later to give the lead back to the White Sox, 4-3, in the fourth. In between, the White Sox and Jonathan Cannon had a wild third.
Grant Taylor opened with two strikeouts over two perfect innings, throwing 21 of his 27 pitches for strikes. Sean Newcomb started the third but gave way to Cannon with two on and one out. Cannon, who was called up from Triple-A Charlotte as Sunday’s bulk hurler, walked Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino in consecutive plate appearances, forcing home two runs, with just two of his 14 pitches in the zone.
Cannon departed at that point with right hip irritation, leaving Venable to use his entire bullpen and nine pitchers in total. Sean Burke, scheduled to start Wednesday, went to the bullpen and made himself available late if there was a 10th inning.
“That could have been a disaster for them,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “They were able to exhaust everybody … they were playing to win it in nine, and that’s what you should do.”
“Using nine guys in a game is never easy, but we got the job done,” Taylor said. “The hitters kept us in it. Good day.”
After the Royals’ third, Montgomery reminded his teammate how early it was game-wise and things would change. They tied the game on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Andrew Benintendi in the sixth, battling back from an 0-2 count, and took the lead on a wild pitch in the seventh. The offense scored more than three runs for the first time since April 4.
“We are not trying to look too much into it,” Montgomery said. “We all know it’s one game away, one hit away, one at-bat away. So, kind of just have to keep looking toward those things.
“If we just keep having our heads down, keep doing what we need to do, keep a positive mindset with it all, realize that we’ve had 30 freaking at-bats, 40 at-bats, things are going to start turning. If we believe that, then it will happen.”
Sunday’s effort marked a strong performance for Montgomery, who also reached base in the eighth after being hit by a pitch from Daniel Lynch IV. He was sore postgame, but nothing was broken.
He entered in a 5-for-30 funk over his last eight games, with just three extra-base hits. But Montgomery still feels his swing is getting close.
“I’m still continuing to learn a lot about a lot of stuff,” Montgomery said. “I’m just trying to go every single day about my preparation, and my scouting. You want to get better every single day. That’s kind of my mindset, it’s just getting one percent better every day. But also learn from at-bats in the past.
“A lot of it is shutting off your emotional state. I could be sitting here being emotional about my four at-bats yesterday but it’s not going to do anything good for today.”
Resiliency was Sunday’s White Sox watchword, with every non-starting pitcher but catcher Reese McGuire getting into the game.
“Especially after a delay where it's kind of a funky day, funky game,” Venable said. “Just really proud of the group.”