​The Chicago White Sox began a big series against the Detroit Tigers with Colson Montgomery out of the lineup.The shortstop is day to day after exiting Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians with a left wrist bruise.“Still pretty sore,” manager Will Venable said before Thursday’s game. “Just continue to get treatment and kind of day to day.”Venable said there was “still a lot of pain involved” when Montgomery swung a bat Thursday.Montgomery suffered the injury while getting hit by a pitch in the fourth inning of Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Guardians. The Sox fell out of first place with the defeat and entered Thursday trailing the Guardians by a half-game.The Sox came into the day in the No. 3 AL wild-card spot, one game ahead of the Texas Rangers.Here are three keys as the team makes the final push to try to make the postseason for the first time since 2021.1. Will the sluggers rebound?Montgomery had been in a slide recently, going 0-for-15 in his last six games.He was tied for the team lead with 31 home runs, but his 211 strikeouts this year rank third all time in Sox history behind Adam Dunn (222 in 2012) and Yoán Moncada (217 in 2018).Montgomery isn’t the only slugger in a funk. First baseman Munetaka Murakami, who came into Thursday also with 31 home runs, was 9-for-95 (.095) with two home runs and 50 strikeouts in his last 27 games.“I know there’s a little bit of frustration there,” Venable said Wednesday. “Really proud of both of them, to be honest, in how they’re handling not performing at their best.”Murakami went 1-for-16 during the trip against the St. Louis Cardinals and Guardians.Venable said Wednesday of Murakami: “He continues to make good swing decisions. Obviously there’s some swing and miss and I think for him, there’s some timing. There’s some mechanical stuff.“Mune’s in a really good spot I think as far as the type of work he’s doing. He’s working on the right things. Just hasn’t quite shown up on the field recently.”In general, the slug hasn’t been there for the team in September. The Sox rank last in the majors this month with a .353 slugging percentage.Murakami showed some progress in his first at-bat Thursday, hitting a three-run home run — his 32nd — to center field.2. How will the pitching hold up?The Sox made a tweak to the upcoming rotation with David Sandlin scheduled to start Friday, Sean Burke on Saturday and Davis Martin on Sunday.Luis Castillo, who has a 7.76 ERA since being acquired in a trade from the Seattle Mariners, will see some time as a reliever.“The next opportunity for (Castillo) will be coming out of the bullpen,” Venable said Thursday. “So we’ll look and see what that looks like exactly.”In general, the Sox plan to be creative when it comes to pitching. The bullpen has the second-best ERA (2.99) in the majors since June 23. It will be a major factor for the club in these final games as well.“Every game this year, there’s