Colson Montgomery keeps rolling out ‘unbelievable’ power for White Sox

Colson Montgomery wasn’t sure if his deep fly had enough to get out of the park Tuesday night against the Royals.

He bounced out of the batter’s box after arriving late on a fastball, willing the ball to stay fair as it sailed toward the left-field corner — and he watched it bank off the foul pole like dice off the back wall of a craps table.

Seems like they’ve all been coming up lucky sevens lately for the White Sox’ hot-swinging rookie, who notched his fourth home run in as many games and could seize the team lead in homers by season’s end despite spending less than half of it with the big-league squad.

“It’s been unbelievable,” general manager Chris Getz said. “I wasn’t even sure he knew where that ball went last night, and he hits it off the foul pole. So we’ll call that a mistake, and we were rewarded with a home run.”

It’s not just luck that has propelled the 23-year-old — known as “Dice Roll” in some corners of the clubhouse for his Yahtzee skills — to one of the most productive rookie seasons seen on the South Side since Jose Abreu burst onto the scene.

He’s found his stroke to the tune of a .230/.287/.553 line with all 14 of his dingers coming in the second half, the third-best total in MLB since the break.

Montgomery sat Wednesday for the second time in three games as the Sox manage his workload to close out the year, especially as he nurses discomfort in his side that flared up during a swing last week against the Braves.

The Sox aren’t taking any chances with Montgomery and the .840 OPS he’s posted since his July 4 call-up, a figure that seemed well beyond reach when he was sent to Arizona in April to turn around his anemic start at Triple-A Charlotte.

“Rewind back once again where he was earlier in the year to where he is now, it’s remarkable,” Getz said. “That’s a testament to him and his belief in himself and his ability overall.”

Starters serve, bullpen bombs

No Sean Burke? No Jonathan Cannon? No problem for a starting rotation that has been mostly solid in the weeks since two of the Sox’ most promising young arms were demoted to Triple-A.

Martin Perez, Shane Smith and Davis Martin have flashed dominance, while waiver claim Yoendrys Gomez has been serviceable enough to stake out a spot.

Aaron Civale had been decent of late, too, until giving up five runs in an ugly fifth inning that sealed the Sox’ 12-1 clunker to the Royals on Wednesday, ending a streak of 27 ⅔ scoreless innings tossed by Sox starters.

It’s been a different story from the bullpen as the Sox scrounge up arms to get through the late-season meat-grinder.

Sox relievers have squandered significant leads three times since last week in Atlanta, with Jordan Leasure and Grant Taylor serving as the latest punching bags in Tuesday’s 5-4 implosion.

Getz chalked up some of the rookie Taylor’s recent struggles to bad luck but said the team will look to add to the relief corps in the offseason.

“We’re open to different ideas,” Getz said. “Since Grant’s been up here, we’ve been able to settle arms and roles that have been perhaps more optimal for them and for us, but we’re going to continue to look for opportunities to improve this team and add when appropriate.”