The Yankees, after losing another heartbreaker to the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, desperately needed a win on Tuesday to open up a crucial road trip on a positive note.
One of the team’s best pitchers in recent weeks delivered again to get the Yanks that victory.
Jordan Montgomery turned in his sixth straight start of allowing three runs or less, tossing five shutout innings and exiting with a rare lead to send the Yanks to a 4-3 win over the Rays. It was Montgomery’s second straight shutout performance, and of his last seven starts, six of them have come against teams currently in a playoff spot.
For Montgomery, the trick has been ignoring the stakes of his recent starts, while also keeping the focus on his own job, not the consistent lack of run support, which finally relented on Tuesday with the offense scoring three runs before the lefty exited for the night.
“I think he does a really good job of not getting distracted,” Aaron Boone said. “No matter what’s going on, there’s been games where there’s soft contact and he’s a little unlucky, or games we haven’t scored for him, and he just keeps making pitches. He’s shown a knack, as he gets deeper into games, to keep making pitches.”
Montgomery, not far removed from a stretch of five straight outings where he didn’t get a single run of support from his offense, has been a much-needed source of reliability over the past five weeks, with Luis Severino and Corey Kluber still down with injuries. He has pitched to a 3.00 ERA over his last 39 innings, and his season ERA has dropped down to 3.78. He doesn’t boast the same velocity as a Severino or Gerrit Cole, but Montgomery continues to feel increased confidence as he pitches through his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018.
“I think I’ve got a little more time out from TJ, trusting my arm, confidence in my stuff, aggressiveness, feeling more comfortable on the mound,” Montgomery said. “Just trying to think less. When I’m out there aggressive and competing, I feel like I’m one of the better pitchers in the league. But then my mind gets in the way and I try to do too much. So I just try to go out there and leave it on the field.
“I just know I have a job to do. Every five days, I expect us to win. Whenever I go out there, I give it my all and expect to come out with a team win.”
Montgomery’s best hasn’t always been rewarded, whether it be the result of a stagnant offense or a bullpen collapse, but the Yanks were able to get him a win on Tuesday. It was the sixth time Montgomery has faced the Rays since his clutch performance in last year’s ALDS, but despite the growing familiarity, Montgomery has gotten better, as the Yankees feel he has overall with each day removed from his surgery.
“I think his stuff is across the board ticked up a bit, starting last year,” Boone said. “I think it’s ticked up again this year. He’s got more weapons he can go to. He can lean on his fastball a little bit. Tonight he leaned on the cutter, and obviously his curveball and changeup. All of those pitches on a given night are really good pitches for him, and I think he’s ticked up stuff-wise. I think that’s a product of being another year removed from injury, becoming more of a man and getting more physically fit and stronger and kind of growing into his body.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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