Yankees Streak Reaches Three, Montgomery Passes First Test

The Yankees overcame a three-run deficit to win their third consecutive game and even the season at 4-4. Capitalizing on Tampa Bay lapses and utilizing some timely hitting, the team picked up their rookie pitcher who passed his first test.

Yankees rookie starter, Jordan Montgomery, exhibited some of those hearts thumping moments that come when, as a 24-year old making his first start on the mound that Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Whitey Ford, and countless others pitched from, you realize that you’re in “The Show.”

But when Ricky Weeks Jr. hit a two-run home run off him in the first inning, scoring Evan Longoria and giving the Rays a quick 2-0 lead, he kept his composure and settled down to yield only one more run over 4.2 innings while striking out seven batters.

It goes in the books as a no-decision for Montgomery, but for the Yankees, his debut was more than decisive. And that’s because it now means that Jor Girardi has the luxury of playing with his rotation and skipping guys who he doesn’t trust, or perhaps even moving to a six-man rotation, an idea I think he should explore and will comment more on tomorrow morning.

Video courtesy of the YES Network

It’s not that the team’s rotation is not good enough as some have said. It’s more that the rotation is not consistent

But for today, this was a Yankees team that showed resilience and patience with a Tampa Bay pitching staff that seeps water once you get into their bullpen.

And once again, Aaron Judge was in the middle of everything today offensively for the team, hitting his third home run of the season, a two-out two-run shot that extended the Yankees lead at the time to 8-3. Judge also drove in and scored another run in the game raising his average to .308 for the season.

Starlin Castro and Chase Headley both continued their torrid hitting, each with two hits and two runs scored. Bryan Mitchell and Tyler Clippard each pitched scoreless innings in relief of Montgomery, and Aroldis Chapman got the final two outs to earn his first save of the season.

Yankees Rotation Is Very Much In Flux

Granted, one start does not create the need to print a Hall of Fame ballot scheduled for use fifteen years from now with Jordan Montgomery’s printed on it. Not quite, but today still marks yet another turning point in the Yankees organization that puts tomorrow in bright lights around the city.

To repeat, it’s not that the team’s rotation is not good as some have said. It’s more that the rotation is not consistent. Michael Pineda had the same nasty stuff he always has when he turned in that eye-catching start the other day. But he doesn’t always have the command of his pitches he had the other day. Ditto Luis Severino.

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And there’s nothing worse for a manager, his coaching staff, and the team itself to take the field without some idea of what you are probably going to get from your starting pitcher on any given day.

Anyone can have a bad day, but at least when CC Sabathia goes out there this weekend to face the Cardinals, Larry Rothschild can tell his bullpen, “Okay guys, the plan is CC goes six, Tyler, you’ve got the seventh, Dellin the eighth, and Aroldis be ready to close it out if we have a lead”.

So if Montgomery can develop into that kind of pitcher, who consistently goes out there giving you at least six quality innings and keeps you in the game, you’ve hit the jackpot.

Everything points to Montgomery being capable of being one of those guys. He’s done everything the Yankees have asked of him this spring, and that, of course, includes his somewhat unexpected but welcome start today.

Turning The Page

The Yankees will hand the ball to Luis Severino as the Yankees go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon. If he has another clunker, his days with the team are numbered, plain and straightforward. If he turns in another Pineda like performance, his days may still be numbered, but at least, as in the case of Pineda, he’ll get another start.

But with the emergence of Jordan Montgomery, the organization is likely to have more confidence in promoting the young talent that is brewing in their minor league system. Chance Adams could easily be next up, but as the Yankees proved with Montgomery, he’s not an automatic, regardless of his record in the minors.

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Girardi is tired of the Pineda’s and the Severino’s who have no presence on the mound. They throw one pitch after another and hope for the best, but they don’t seem to have anything between the ears. Those days are gone, and if Adams or Justus Sheffield, or anyone else can step up in the way Montgomery has, they too will be standing on the same mound as Andy Pettitte once did.

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