Colson Montgomery Makes White Sox History with Eutaw Street Home Run

BALTIMORE – Colson Montgomery joined an exclusive group during the third inning of the game against the Baltimore Orioles. The shortstop became the third player from the Chicago White Sox to hit a home run that reached Eutaw Street, beyond the right-field wall at Camden Yards. Only Adam Dunn and Jeff Liefer had previously accomplished this remarkable feat. Montgomery expressed surprise, stating, “I didn’t even think it went over that gate, I thought it went through the gate. I knew I got it pretty good, though.”

Montgomery’s impressive home run came during a dominant seven-run inning for the White Sox, leading to a 9-3 win over the Orioles in front of 17,581 spectators. Jacob Gonzalez contributed with a two-run single, and Junior Perez powered a three-run home run in that inning. The White Sox, now at 45-39, finished June leading the American League Central by two games over the Cleveland Guardians, who lost to the Texas Rangers. The team went 13-12 in June, marking consecutive winning months for the first time since 2021.

White Sox manager Will Venable praised the team’s consistency and energy, saying, “We’ve done a really good job of maintaining our consistency, our energy. The valleys, which you expect to happen at times, really minimizing those. Which is great. It’s a winning month, but you feel like we weren’t really hot this month and also didn’t really have those really bad stretches.”

This victory secured a road series win for the White Sox, breaking their streak of seven consecutive series losses on the road. Venable expressed satisfaction with the timing of the win and commended the team’s resilience.

Erick Fedde earned the win, allowing three runs on five hits over five innings, with three strikeouts and three walks. Tyler Schweitzer provided the save with four scoreless innings, a feat not achieved by a Sox pitcher since Keith Foulke’s six innings against Seattle in 1997. Fedde acknowledged the effectiveness of his sweeper pitch, saying, “Leaned on that. I mean, probably threw that, like 50%. That’s at least how it felt out there. But battled through it and it helps when the guys give you a bunch of runs. Makes life a lot easier.”

Chicago White Sox catcher Kyle Teel continues to adapt after returning from the injured list, receiving significant run support, particularly in the third inning. Andrew Benintendi started the inning with a single, followed by Montgomery’s 440-foot home run, his 21st of the season. Montgomery shared, “I’m up there trying to stick with my plan, stick with my approach. Just knowing that if I stick with my plan that I trust, that there are results that are going to come out of it.”

With his home run, Montgomery became the 137th player to land a ball on Eutaw Street, the 73rd from an opponent. Venable described the hit as “majestic.” Following this, two walks and a single loaded the bases, allowing Gonzalez to deliver a two-run single. Perez then hit his 409-foot three-run homer, pushing the lead to 8-1. Venable commended the quality at-bats, stating, “There’s a lot of good stuff that has to happen to score seven runs. Up and down the order, really good stuff.”

Gonzalez’s additional RBI double in the fourth inning led to the team’s first series victory against the Orioles since a sweep in July 2021 at Camden Yards.

The White Sox also made a minor-league trade, sending pitcher Ben Peoples to the Texas Rangers for catcher Ben Hartl. Peoples, 25, posted a 2.39 ERA in 29 relief outings with Triple-A Charlotte, striking out 45 and walking 21 in 37 2/3 innings. Hartl, 23, hit .218 with three home runs and 16 RBIs in 32 games at High-A Hub City. He is originally from Springfield and played alongside Sox outfielder Sam Antonacci at Heartland Community College in 2023.