Pregame notes: Colson Montgomery sits with sore right leg, Munetaka Murakami bobblehead day

Colson Montgomery didn't look to be in great shape after fouling another pitch off his right shin in the ninth inning Saturday night, since he wasn't able to take second after ripping a liner into the right field corner. Sure enough, he's out of the lineup on Sunday with Luisangel Acuña manning shortstop in his stead.

"I anticipate I’m playing tomorrow," Montgomery said. "It’s obviously sore and tight and discomfort. But same thing as before. It’s not going to be a long time thing. Just something we have to get ahead of right now so it doesn’t linger."

Will Venable indicated it's actually quite possible that Montgomery sits again on Monday, since his leg was already sore from the shin bruise he gave himself last week in Texas. But Montgomery will probably be fitted with more protective gear when he does return. He already had added a custom guard on his shin above his standard ankle guard, but said this most recent strike still got him in an unprotected area.

So a particular teammate with a lot of time on his hands proposed a wonky future solution.

"[Kyle Teel] came up behind me and was like, ‘Dude, I have an idea,'" Montgomery said. "He brought his shin guard over and I was like ‘Teel, I’m not wearing a shin guard.’ It wouldn’t hurt if you hit a ball off of it. But it would be hard to move."

Teel was not discouraged.

"Teel, his mind is...everyone knows how Teel is," Montgomery said. "He’s able to come up with some things, and all he did was cut up his shin guard. So, he cut the toe flap of his catching gear and then the knee part. It kind of was like a piece of an Ironman suit, is what it seemed like. I was like, ‘Thanks Teel. It feels good but I’m probably not going to use it.’"

Montgomery said there's a model of shin guard that Jorge Soler uses that he's planning to employ upon his return. Since dealing with back tightness last month, Montgomery is hitting .206/.255/.427 with a 34 percent strikeout rate over his last 34 games, on top of dealing with his recent influx of shin bruises, but says that discerning when he's too physically affected to play at his best is something he's developed a feel for.

"One of the biggest things I’ve learned is when to push it and when to not," Montgomery said. "If it’s going to limit your ability to be at somewhat of your best, I feel like that’s when you need to take a step back and think is this going to help the team or is it not going to help the team. I probably could go out there and play but I couldn’t give you an answer on how well I would be able to move or things like that."

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The pregame clubhouse was full of both representatives from TOTO Washlet, the Japanese company that provided the White Sox with their new bidets, and Excel Baseball, the agency that represents Teel, Munetaka Murakami, Andrew Benintendi, Mike Vasil, and Chase Meidroth. Players being quizzed on their feelings about bidets reveals that Davis Martin seems interested in installing one in his home.

Such is the occasion of Murakami's bobblehead day.

"I have not looked at it yet," Montgomery said of the bobblehead. "But I bet it’s gorgeous."

"Mune’s a big deal, he earned that bobblehead with some great baseball," Venable said. "Super excited about Mune and his bobblehead, excited for him to go out there and hopefully have a great day on his bobblehead day."

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Asked about pinch-hitting Andrew Benintendi with Acuña on Saturday night against Josh Hader, Venable conceded he probably wouldn't have made such a move earlier in the season. Acuña has only received 54 plate appearances since the start of June, but has hit .404/.415/.500 in them (with a .500 BABIP).

"There have been times when we’ve been in that situation before and we haven’t used Luis to pinch hit," Venable said. "A little different yesterday where we had already used [Randal Grichuk], but I do think it speaks to where Luis' at offensively. Obviously he’s been great defensively for us all year, but this last four or five weeks, whatever it might be, Luis' been a really good version of himself offensively that we have a lot of confidence in."

First pitch: White Sox vs. Astros

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