It is better to give than to receive … but maybe getting both is best.
Just ask Jordan Montgomery, who gave the Yankees just what they needed Saturday night and in return received just what he has been missing.
“It was going to be a struggle if we didn’t get a lot of length out of him. That was just what the doctor ordered,” Aaron Boone said after the Yankees’ 8-0 win over the Cubs on Saturday night at the Stadium. “It’s not something you want to lay him on early or tell him about. Just go pitch, but, yeah, I think he had a good idea.”
Boone joked that he was making sure he was “up to date on the rules for position players pitching” — a nod to Mets manager Buck Showalter trapping the unaware Dodgers last week — in case Montgomery faltered early, but there wasn’t much to figure out after the left-hander allowed five hits plus one hit batsman and struck out five in seven innings.
Montgomery attacked with a fairly even mix of his fastball, curveball and changeup and a newly developed cutter.
“He just started throwing it a couple weeks ago,” catcher Jose Trevino said of Montgomery’s cutter, “but it’s starting to pick up and it looks really good. You can tell he’s getting the feel for it. He’s doing what he wants with it.”
Added Montgomery: “It gives me a little separation on my two-seamer. It helps me kind of lead hitters when they are super-aggressive.”
Boone rarely uses pitchers three days in a row, and Miguel Castro, Michael King, Wandy Peralta and closer Clay Holmes all were called upon, both when Gerrit Cole bombed Thursday and when the Yankees went 13 innings Friday. The bullpen combined for 13 ²/₃ innings over those two wins.
The baseball gods rewarded Montgomery (2-1) with uncharacteristic run support, as the Yankees bombed six solo home runs in the first five innings.
“He went through a year last year and the start of the year where it was kind of fluky and amazing how little [support], and it never seemed to bother him,” Boone said. “He’s a really good competitor.”
Montgomery entered the game averaging 3.91 runs of support per nine innings, which paled in comparison to rotation mates Cole (6.85), Nestor Cortes (4.76) and Jameson Taillon (4.45), all of whom rank among the top-15 most-supported pitchers in MLB. That’s why, despite pitching to an impressive ERA that now stands at 2.70, Montgomery waited until his 10th start of the season for a win. He now has two in his past three starts.
“Having all that run support helps me be aggressive with my two-seamer and changeup,” Montgomery said. “I was ready to throw as many pitches as I could.”
Montgomery kept the ball on the ground and picked up teammates Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who committed throwing errors when the score was 1-0. He worked through consistent traffic, retiring the side in order only once, in the fifth inning.