Yankees stymied by ex-teammate Jordan Montgomery in loss to Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — Jordan Montgomery had called the prospect of facing his former team, one on which he still has plenty of close friends, “weird.”

But the lefthander, among the more popular players with his teammates while with the Yankees before being dealt to the Cardinals in exchange for Harrison Bader last season, had made it clear that odd feeling would not impact him on the mound. 

“I’m not scared,” Montgomery said on the eve of this series. “I’m the one holding the ball.”

Actually, the problem for the Yankees on Sunday afternoon wasn’t when Montgomery held the ball. It was when he threw it. And when he did, the Yankees had little success hitting it.

Completely throttling the team that drafted him and with whom he spent the first six years of his big-league career, Montgomery took a no-hitter into the sixth inning as the Cardinals beat the Yankees, 5-1, in front of a sellout crowd of 44,676 at Busch Stadium. 

Montgomery (6-7, 3.28) allowed an unearned run and two hits in 6 2/3 innings. He threw five scoreless innings against the Yankees last August  shortly after the trade.

“Today the story was Montgomery. I got outpitched,” said Gerrit Cole (8-2, 2.79), who allowed two runs and six hits in six innings and has allowed two or fewer runs in 14 of his 18 starts. “He was outstanding today. He was moving the ball well . . . When he’s on, he’s really tough. That’s what we had to deal with today, and unfortunately I just wasn’t good enough to be able to hold them down quite enough.”

The deal at the time was not popular in the Yankees' clubhouse — or with Montgomery, for that matter — but players came around once Bader, injured at the time of the deal, returned and showed not only the defensive abilities that made him a Gold Glover but also some much-needed pop in his bat.  

After Sunday’s game, Montgomery told Newsday he harbors no bitterness toward the Yankees' organization.

“Just happy to be here now and still pitching,” he said with a smile. “Really, as long as I have a job. I think everyone over there knows what I’m capable of. Big lefties don’t grow on trees. I’m just trying to get better every year.”  

The 6-6, 228-pound Montgomery still stays in touch with more than a few of his former teammates, including Cole (the two talk or text fairly frequently, and after Sunday’s game, Cole texted him a meme of a cowboy tipping his cap).

“Gerrit’s elite,” Montgomery said. “He’s always kind of hyped me up and fluffed me and told me how good he thinks I am while I was there and [now] from afar. He still watches my games. I knew I had to bring it today if I was going to face off against him.”  

The Cardinals scored twice in the fourth on a double by Nolan Arenado and singles by Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker and Andrew Knizner. The Yankees (46-38), who were outhit 11-3, did not get their first hit until Gleyber Torres doubled with two outs in the sixth.

Montgomery ran into some bad luck in the seventh when the Yankees finally got on the board. Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out for what should have been the inning’s second out, but the ball got away from Knizner for a passed ball. After a sacrifice bunt by Anthony Volpe, Jake Bauers skied a double over the head of centerfielder Lars Nootbar  to make it 2-1.

With the tying run at second, righthander Giovanny Gallegos — a former Yankee who was sent to the Cardinals along with Chasen Shreve for Luke Voit in 2018 — struck out overmatched pinch hitter Billy McKinney on three pitches to end the seventh. 

Gallegos pitched with a 4-1 lead in the eighth after Brandon Donovan’s two-run homer off Jimmy Cordero in the bottom of the seventh. 

Aaron Boone, ejected in the third by plate umpire Dan Merzel for objecting to a strike call on a 3-and-1 slider to DJ LeMahieu that clearly was above the strike zone with a runner on first and none out (he wound up popping out), also took issue with the on-field delay that preceded Gallegos coming into the game.

“I felt that was not handled correctly,” said Boone, who, along with his staff, thought the Cardinals employed a “stall” tactic to give Gallegos more time to warm up after Bauers' double, essentially pretending to have an issue with the PitchCom device (which ultimately did not need replacing). “But that doesn’t take away from Monty. He was really on point today.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.