Colson Montgomery out of lineup again with stiff back, hopes to ‘knock it out’ now

Shortstop Colson Montgomery was out of the lineup again Wednesday with a back issue. He didn’t play Tuesday because of what general manager Chris Getz called tightness. But neither Montgomery nor manager Will Venable sounded concerned, and they described the situation as day-to-day.

“It’s just one of those things throughout the season; things kinda come up,” Montgomery said. “It’s just getting ahead of it so it doesn’t linger and get any worse. We’re looking to play long-term this season, so we thought this was the best thing to do.

“Yesterday, [it] felt a little stiff and kind of locked up. But as I got treatment and did some exercises, moving around, it felt a lot better. Today, came in, felt a lot better.”

Montgomery said the issue cropped up about two weeks when he swung and felt “a little something.” He played through it, but it eventually reached a point where it was too painful and less manageable. Montgomery said when an issue starts affecting him in his life off the field, it’s time to seek treatment.

“It was a group decision: training staff, coaches, everybody,” he said. “They were like, let’s just get ahead of it and knock it out.”

Acuna brothers square off

For only the second time in their big-league careers, the White Sox’ Luisangel Acuna and the Braves’ Ronald Acuna met as opponents. On Tuesday, Luisangel started at shortstop in place of Montgomery, and Ronald started in right field. They also met up at the plate before the game to take part in the lineup-card exchange.

“Every time that we are out there on the field, it’s a dream come true for us,” Luisangel said. “When we are stretching, talking, we’re at home plate exchanging the lineups, it’s just a dream come true because we come from a town [Caracas, Venezuela] where there’s nothing there.”

The game was more of a nightmare for the brothers individually. Ronald left in the fourth inning with a strained hamstring that put him on the 10-day injured list, and Luisangel left in the seventh with his own hamstring injury. He returned to the lineup Wednesday.

Notes

The Sox put left-hander Tyler Gilbert on the 15-day injured list with an impingement in his shoulder and called up lefty Chris Murphy from Triple-A Charlotte.

• With a single in the third inning, second baseman Chase Meidroth has reached base in 21 consecutive games and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.