It has been quite a 12-month stretch for Colson Montgomery.

The Chicago White Sox shortstop made his major league debut on July 4, 2025, and has impressed ever since. He put up 21 home runs in 71 games as a rookie, and exactly one year after his first appearance, he surpassed that total with his 22nd mash of the season — delivering the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of Chicago’s 3-1 win against the host Cleveland Guardians on Saturday.

His 43 homers in 155 games are tied for fourth most in the majors since his debut, trailing only Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (60 in 160 games), Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (50 in 159) and Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz (44 in 156), and tied with Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani (43 in 153).

Montgomery and his teammates will look to keep it going as they go for the split in the finale of a four-game set against the Guardians on Sunday.

“I’ve just narrowed down the things I need to do on a day-to-day basis, what my body needs to get ready for the game,” Montgomery said. “Coming up here, last year as a new guy, I felt like I needed to do everything, be everywhere.”

Montgomery’s home run total leads the White Sox, is fifth in the American League and is tied for eighth in the majors.

“I see the work he puts in,” said White Sox pitcher Sean Burke, his good friend and housemate. “We work out together every single day. I see how he is as a person hanging out, just chilling at the house in the offseason. … I’m not surprised at any of this. He’s that special of a player.”

Right-hander Burke was stellar in his start Saturday, notching a career-high 11 strikeouts without a walk in six innings while holding Cleveland to one run on seven hits as the White Sox pulled even with their division rivals atop the AL Central.

Chris Murphy (2-0, 3.79 ERA) will get the nod for Chicago on Sunday. It’ll be the second career start against the Guardians for the left-hander, who is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in five career appearances, allowing two hits and striking out 10 in eight innings.

The Guardians will counter with Tanner Bibee (2-9, 3.69). The righty enjoyed a stellar June, going 2-2 with a 1.89 ERA in five starts, with opponents batting a mere .150 against him.

It’s a turnaround from the month prior, when he went 0-3 with a 5.08 ERA and hitters connecting at a .248 clip.

“He’s really learning to command (his sinker) and use it as a weapon,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said.

Bibee, who is 4-0 with a 3.41 ERA in six career starts against the White Sox, had one of his worst starts of the season against the Washington Nationals on May 25. He gave up seven runs on eight hits — five of which were home runs — in just three innings.

In his six starts since that outing? A 2.29 ERA in 39 1/3 innings.

“It’s been pretty exciting to see a guy who’s had a lot of success in his big league career so far kind of make an adjustment and see the fruit of it,” said two-time Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey, who has been behind the plate for eight of Bibee’s 10 starts since the former was acquired on May 9. “I think the ceiling is a lot higher than what we’ve seen so far.”

–Field Level Media

The Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds have similar records as they go into Sunday afternoon’s series finale in Cincinnati.

They’re trying to set themselves up for a good final week prior to the All-Star break.

It hasn’t been easy for Reds manager Terry Francona’s team, which has dropped six of its last seven games.

Meanwhile, the Orioles try to stretch their winning streak to four games after winning the first two games of the series by three-run margins. Saturday night’s 8-5 decision came despite Cincinnati building an 11-10 edge in hits.

Both teams had something positive to digest Saturday when members of their clubs were selected for the All-Star Game.

Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman was named an All-Star for the American League despite landing on the injured list twice this season.

“It’s been a goal of mine to go to the All-Star Game and to be able to get back there, so I feel very blessed,” said Rutschman, who also was selected in 2023 and 2024.

Rookie catcher Samuel Basallo, who also fills the designated hitter slot for some games, has homered in each of the past two games for the Orioles.

Cincinnati’s All-Stars are infielder Sal Stewart and pitcher Chase Burns on the National League side.

“I’m obviously shocked because I just didn’t expect this,” said Stewart, a rookie who’s batting .254 with a team-high 17 home runs.

The Orioles will send right-hander Kyle Bradish (5-8, 3.77 ERA) to the mound Sunday in an effort to complete a series sweep. He had a personal two-game winning streak end when he gave up four runs (three earned) in last Sunday’s 6-4 home loss to the Washington Nationals. He has won his last two road outings.

With 96 strikeouts, Bradish is in range to reach the 100-strikeout mark for the first time since his career-high mark of 168 in 2023.

Bradish has faced the Reds only once in his career, allowing two runs in five innings in a no-decision as a rookie in 2022.

Baltimore’s pitchers have done the job so far in this series. Other than Cincinnati’s three-run second inning Saturday, the Reds have managed just single runs in two of the other 17 innings.

“We have really good pitching,” Orioles first-year manager Craig Albernaz said. “I’m biased, obviously.”

Francona said that the Reds’ starting rotation has been altered with Rhett Lowder taking a spot in the bullpen. The right-hander came through with three shutout innings in Saturday night’s game. So there’s still more to sort out.

“When we get to next Sunday, we’ll see where we’re at and map it out from there,” Francona said. “We’re not trying to make Lowder a bullpen guy. We’re trying to figure out ways to protect our staff, win games and get through this next week.”

Cincinnati has lined up left-hander Nick Lodolo (2-2, 5.05) as its starting pitcher for the series finale. He’s unscored upon in his last two starts covering a total of nine innings.

The Reds went 0-5 in Lodolo’s five June starts, though he was charged with a loss in only one of those. In two career starts against the Orioles, he’s 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA covering 11 innings.

–Field Level Media

In a season full of pitcher injuries, Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell has learned just how solid Javier Assad is.

The 28-year-old right-hander, who pitches Sunday in Chicago to try to stop a St. Louis Cardinals sweep, is 6-1 with a 4.53 ERA in 13 games (six starts).

The Cubs have four starters on the injured list and have had 13 pitchers total spend time on the IL this season.

“We have talked about guys getting opportunities, and certainly Javy has come in at a time when we really needed it and has delivered a couple of big starts, big performances,” Counsell said. “This is how you figure out how to stick in the big leagues. It hasn’t been all smooth for Javy; there have been bumps. You don’t know when you are going to get these opportunities so you have to stay ready.

“Javy just kind of keeps telling you, ‘I’ll be ready when I get the opportunity.’ “

Assad won his last start June 24, a 10-3 victory over the Mets, giving up five hits and three runs in five innings. He struck out five and walked just two.

He has won three straight starts and the Cubs have won nine of his last 11 appearances.

“I feel really good with all my pitches,” Assad said. “My sinker is really helping, but I feel good with all my pitches. I feel my velocity has been really good. I’m trying to take advantage of every opportunity. I like to start, but I’m ready for anything.”

Assad is 24-13 with a 3.57 ERA in 91 career appearances, including 60 starts, since his major league debut with the Cubs in 2022.

He is 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 10 games, including five starts, against the Cardinals.

St. Louis will counter with Matthew Liberatore. The 26-year-old southpaw is 4-5 with a 5.33 ERA.

After losing two straight, Liberatore beat the host Atlanta Braves 5-3 in his last outing, giving up one hit and one run in five innings. He walked four and struck out nine.

Liberatore is 20-29 with a 4.77 ERA in 137 career outings, including 70 starts.

He is 2-1 with a 3.03 ERA in 11 outings (five starts) against the Cubs.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was honored to tell Jordan Walker that the outfielder had made his first National League All-Star team on Saturday.

“There was a lot of emotion in the room,” Marmol said. “We have been with him through the ups and downs, so it was nice to be able to tell him that today.”

Walker is hitting .291 with 19 home runs and 63 RBIs. He has an .870 OPS.

The 24-year-old had never hit more than 16 home runs and never had more than 51 RBIs in one season (both in 2023). He even has more stolen bases (11) than he has ever had in one season since his major league debut in March 2023.

Walker, who was selected 21st overall by St. Louis in the 2020 MLB Draft, has a career OPS of .728.

St. Louis has won five of six and is in surprise contention for a playoff spot despite trading away most of their veterans in the offseason.

Rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt is a big reason why.

Wetherholt led off the game Saturday against the Cubs with a home run and reached base four times.

He is hitting .266 with 13 home runs and 36 RBIs. He has a .778 OPS.

The left-handed-hitting Wetherholt’s home run was to the opposite field.

“Today was a good example of what I have been trying to do, work the back side of the field,” he said. “We are just excited. We wake up excited every day to play. We just try to end with a win.”

–Field Level Media