Frankie Montas allowed six runs on five hits, three walks, and one batter hit in 64 pitches and three innings in his debut on Sunday at Busch Stadium. The New York Yankees were defeated 9-12 by the St. Louis Cardinals to complete a three-game sweep for the first time this season.
Nolan Arenado and Paul DeJong both hit home runs and scored four runs. In a four-hour, 25-minute slugfest, St. Louis won its seventh straight game, a season-high. Sunday’s loss brought the Yankees’ season-long losing streak to five games.
Montas was placed on the bereavement list due to the death of his mother-in-law shortly after his move to the Oakland Athletics. The new No. 2 starter only met his new teammates on Saturday night at the team’s hotel in St. Louis for the first time, where he had to quickly go over Sunday’s game plan with catcher Jose Trevino.
“I wanted to go out there and show them what I can do,” Montas said. “That was not the case today. But this is not my last one.”
Yankees vs. Cardinals
Montas was looking for put-away pitches from the first batter of the game. He hung a splitter in the middle of the zone on a 1-2 count to Cardinals leadoff batter Dylan Carlson, who smashed it for a hard-hit single.
The 29-year-old pitcher hit Brendan Donovan with a 96 mph fastball on an 0-2 count to put two on for the heart of the order. The Cardinals capitalized on that chance and led 1-0 after the first inning.
Montas struggled in the second inning. He walked back-to-back batters to start the inning and gave up an RBI double that should have been a two-run triple because Yadier Molina is the slowest player in the league. Then, Nolan Arenado pummeled one 104.7 mph off the bat for a three-run home run.
“My mechanics weren’t in sync. I wasn’t having the best delivery today. I was all over the place,” he said. “But my arm feels good and that’s what I care about.”
Even though his debut did not go as planned, his velocity was in line with his season averages. Montas’ fastball averaged 97.9 mph, and his sinker averaged 96.3 mph.
In this game, the Yankees intended to limit Montas to around 70 pitches. He had only pitched 12 innings since the beginning of July, so his body was still getting back into shape. After the game, Montas said that his shoulder was fine.
Yankees current position
On July 8, the Yankees were on pace to break the Major League Baseball record for wins in a 162-game regular season (116). They’ve struggled since going 9-16.
Sunday’s loss, combined with the Toronto Blue Jays’ victory over the Minnesota Twins reduced New York’s lead to single digits for the first time since June 15.
Cardinals, on the other hand, moved a season-high 12 games above.500 with their first regular-season series sweep of the Yankees.
“We’re definitely going through it right now and frustrated with how we’ve played,” said infielder D.J. LeMahieu, who hit two doubles and one home run. “When we get a good pitching game, we don’t hit, and vice versa.”
Montas is not the Yankees’ only newcomer, they also signed outfielder Andrew Benintendi, who has had four hits in 29 at-bats since joining the club.