Jordan Montgomery continues lights-out spring training for Yankees

Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery pitches against the Blue Jays during the fourth inning of a spring training game Wednesday at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla. Credit: AP/Steve Nesius
DUNEDIN, Fla. – With all the talk of the mastery of Gerrit Cole, the precarious physical pasts of Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon, and the fifth-starter battle between Domingo German and Deivi Garcia, one Yankees starter has been easy to overlook in spring training.
Jordan Montgomery is making it more difficult to look past him, though.
Montgomery -- the only lefthander in the Yankees’ rotation -- continued a lights-out spring training by throwing five hitless innings against the Blue Jays in a 1-0 victory on Wednesday at TD Ballpark.
Montgomery, whose ERA is a sparkling 0.90, only saw three baserunners during his stint: one error, one walk and one hit by pitch. He struck out four in a 66-pitch effort.
"This is how I want to pitch," Montgomery said. "I hold myself to a pretty high expectation. Came in feeling good. Just trying to stay right where I’m at . . . You want to be important. They’ve always told me that I haven’t really reached my potential yet. So we keep working."
Said manager Aaron Boone: "Monty was really good. Really sharp, I thought. Really good with all his pitches . . . He was pounding the strike zone, on the attack all day, and was really in command of his outing. Really strong outing, especially as we get closer to go time."
Montgomery retired the first five Blue Jays before Lourdes Gurriel Jr. reached on a two-out, second-inning throwing error by DJ LeMahieu, who got the start at third base. LeMahieu bounced the throw on the routine grounder and Jay Bruce was unable to make the pick at first.
No worries, though. Montgomery got Cavan Biggio to ground out to Derek Dietrich at second to end the inning.
Montgomery walked Teoscar Hernadez with two outs in the fourth before getting Rowdy Tellez to ground out to Bruce.
Gleyber Torres drove in the game’s only run with a grounder in the fifth.
In the bottom half, Montgomery got one out before hitting Biggio with a pitch. (Biggio’s father, former Kings Park High School star Craig, was hit by a pitch 285 times in his Hall of Fame career. That’s second all-time to Hall of Famer Hughie Jennings’ 287.)
Montgomery ended the outing by striking out Randal Grichuk and getting Alejandro Kirk to fly out to center.
"Their lineup – a lot of good hitters up and down it," Montgomery said. "I felt pretty in control the whole outing. I felt as though I could through all my pitches. Just felt comfortable throwing everything."
Toronto’s first hit was a two-out single in the sixth by Bo Bichette off Jhoulys Chacin. (Bichette’s father, Dante, had 1,906 hits during his big-league career. The Blue Jays also have Vladimir Guerrero Jr., son of the Hall of Fame outfielder.. Guerrero did not play on Wednesday.)
Montgomery, 28, went 2-3 with a 5.11 ERA last season in 10 regular-season starts. He had a fine, if short, outing in Game 4 of the ALDS against the Rays when he allowed one run in four innings with the Yankees’ season on the line.
Montgomery’s excellence this spring training seems to be continuing a resurgence since he made just eight appearances in 2018-’19 because of Tommy John surgery. That followed an impressive rookie season in 2017, when he went 9-7, 3.88 in 29 starts and appeared to be staking a claim as an Andy Pettitte-type lefty in the Yankees’ rotation.
"I have a little more faith in my arm," Montgomery said. "So I can kind of just whip it through. It’s not tensing up or – knock on wood – I’m feeling good."
When Montgomery said "knock on wood," he knocked on his head, which was sporting a green Yankees cap in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
It was a good day for the pitching staff. Chacin and Lucas Luetge combined for four shutout innings to complete the four-hitter as the Yankees won their eighth in a row. Luetge, the lefty who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2015, is unscored upon in 6 1/3 innings.