Montgomery's Three-Run Blast Breaks Minnesota, CHW Win 7-4
Colson Montgomery's 374-foot three-run homer in the first inning swung Minnesota's win probability from 44% to 20% and effectively decided this game before the second inning arrived. Chicago never trailed, surviving a Minnesota rally to take the final 7-4.
The first inning was a fireworks show that set the entire tone. Andrew Benintendi singled to center to score Vargas and put Chicago up 1-0, and then Montgomery stepped in and launched one 374 feet to right, scoring Benintendi and B. Montgomery to make it 4-0. Minnesota answered immediately — Brooks Lee went deep to right center at 380 feet to score Keaschall, then Kody Clemens followed with his own 380-foot shot to right — and suddenly it was 4-3 with the crowd very much alive. Lee wasn't done: in the second, he singled to left to score Larnach and tie the game at 4-4. Three home runs, a tie game, and we weren't even through two innings. The story of the night was how quickly Chicago reasserted control after Minnesota clawed back.
Benintendi did the damage again in the third, doubling to left to score Murakami and put Chicago back in front 5-4. Then Minnesota's own battery let the game slip further: a passed ball by Jeffers allowed Peters to score in the fourth, pushing it to 6-4. The scoring sequence lists that play twice, which appears to be a data artifact — the score held at 6-4 entering the eighth. Luis Castillo worked four innings for Chicago but allowed 8 hits and 4 earned runs, so the bullpen carried the real load in keeping Minnesota off the board after the second. Hagen Smith's 1.1 innings of one-hit, scoreless work looks like a particularly clean bridge appearance.
The finishing touch came in the eighth when Meidroth scored on a Travis Adams wild pitch to make it 7-4, and again the sequence logs that play twice — the score remained 7-4 as the final. Montgomery finished 2-for-4 with the homer and 3 RBI. Benintendi went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Lee was genuinely excellent for Minnesota — 2-for-5, a homer, 3 RBI — but it wasn't enough. Clemens also homered in a losing effort. Grant Taylor's 2.2 innings of one-hit, scoreless ball to open the game appears to have given Chicago exactly the foundation it needed. Minnesota's pitching and defense — two passed balls and a wild pitch contributing directly to three Chicago runs — looks like the difference between a close loss and a competitive one.