Frankie Montas gives up six runs on five hits in ugly Yankees debut

0

ST. LOUIS — Frankie Montas’ Yankees debut completed a lost weekend for the Yankees here. The right-hander, who the Yankees acquired from the A’s before the trade deadline last week, lasted just three innings, allowing a season-high six runs as the Cardinals swept the three-game series with a 12-9 win over the Bombers at Busch Stadium on Sunday.

“I mean, I wanted to go out there and like, show what I can do. That was not the case today,” Montas said. “But this is not my last one. It’s the first one.”

The Yankees (70-39) have lost five straight for the first time since they lost seven straight Sept. 4-10, 2021. While they hold onto the best record in the American league by half a game thanks to an Astros loss Sunday, the Blue Jays win cut the Bombers’ lead in the American League East to 9.5 games. It’s the first time since June 15 that the Yankees’ AL East lead was in single digits.

“We need to play better. I mean, that, quite frankly,” Josh Donaldson said. “I mean, they did a good job. But at the end of the day, we still feel very good about our team. It’s a little slide right now. We need to get back on track and continue playing hard. I feel like we did that throughout the game. At the end of the day, we just didn’t win the game.”

The Cardinals (60-48) have won seven straight.

Aaron Judge had two hits and four RBI, Aaron Hicks went 3-for-4 and DJ LeMahieu went 3-for-6 with his 12th home run of the season. LeMahieu’s ninth-inning homer was the only Yankee home run of the series.

After depleting their pitching depth at the trade deadline, including sending Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals to shut them out on Saturday night, the Bombers were hoping Montas would be able to come in and immediately upgrade the rotation.

It wasn’t apparent on Sunday afternoon.

The Yankees handed Montas a one-run lead in the first and he gave it up. The Bombers, who were coming off their seventh shutout of the season, gave him a 4-1 lead but it coughed it up. Montas, who had not pitched since July 26, gave up one in the first on a RBI-single to Nolan Arenado and five in the second inning capped by an Arenado three-run home run.

Montas gave up five hits, walked three and struck out two. It was the first time in his last seven starts he has allowed more than three earned runs.

“He just looked a little rusty to me. He got out of his delivery a little bit, he pulled some pitches,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said.

“Just falling behind in the count. Like I said, my mechanics were not in sync,” Montas said. “I wasn’t having the best delivery today. I was all over the place. My arms feel good and that’s all I care about.”

Montas, who joined the team after Saturday night’s game, met with catcher Jose Trevino for the first time at the team hotel that night. The 29-year old had suffered a death in the family and was on bereavement leave.

“Just falling behind in the count. Like I said, my mechanics were not in sync,” Montas said. “I wasn’t having the best delivery today. I was all over the place. My arms feel good and that’s all I care about.”

Montas had also been slowly building up with the A’s after suffering shoulder inflammation early in July. He was not expected to go beyond 70 pitches on Sunday, but he was just able to get through three with 64. Montas got eight swings and misses, four on his slider as he struggled with fastball control.

“Ideally, he’d have been here the last several days, getting to know everyone, getting to know his teammates, getting to know the staff, game planning, all those kinds of things,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

“You’d ideally like him with us. That being said, we’ve had about as good a week as you can, considering the circumstances. Obviously, Frankie is dealing with a tough time with his family and we are trying to support him and make sure he’s able to kind of be there for his family right now. He’s been really receptive and was able to do all the physical things that he needed to do as far as throwing bullpens, playing catch and his flat ground work, we were able to get some eyes on him. He was able to get in last night in time to meet with Trevino. He’s had conversations each day with our staff.

“So, I feel like we’re as prepared as you can be considering the circumstances and sometimes fortunately sometimes and sometimes, unfortunately, life circumstances don’t allow it to be perfect,” Boone said. “And you just deal with it.”

Blake liked the stuff Montas had and feels it will be quick work to get him back on track, even though they just met.

“A little bit of video, a little bit of just he knows himself. He kind of felt it,” Blake said. “Also it’s his first game action in 12 days. I think he’s having a hard time making the adjustment in the game. So we’ll get back to work over the next five days and kind of just get him realigned.

“But felt like the stuff was coming out of his hand well.”

()

Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our  Twitter, & Facebook

We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Rapidtelecast.com is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
Leave a comment