Frankie Montas flops as Yankees fall to Blue Jays in momentum-stopping loss
So much for momentum.
If the Yankees’ dramatic, extra-inning win over the Rays on Wednesday was a spark, another tough pitching performance from Frankie Montas promptly poured cold water on it Thursday.
Montas was tagged for six runs over six innings — including a five-run second inning — as the Yankees fell flat in a 9-2 loss to the Blue Jays to open a four-game series in The Bronx.
The offense that had shown signs of snapping out of its recent funk 24 hours earlier wasn’t much help, either, as Jose Berrios kept the Yankees in check across 6 ²/₃ innings. The Yankees went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
With their 13th loss in their last 17 games, the Yankees (73-46) saw their lead atop the AL East trimmed back to nine games over both the Blue Jays (63-54) and Rays.
“This is about us playing well — if we play well, that takes care of itself,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously we haven’t played well enough in the last 10 days. So I think it’s more just a rough patch of us not playing well. We have to play better. I don’t sit there and think about this lead. It’s about us handling our business.”
Throughout the Yankees’ recent offensive malaise, their starting pitching had quietly been strong — allowing three runs or fewer in each of its last nine games before Thursday with a 3.07 ERA. That changed on Thursday, though, as Montas struggled early in his Yankee Stadium debut and put his team in a 5-0 hole in the second inning.
In three starts since joining the Yankees from the Athletics at the trade deadline, Montas has given up 14 earned runs on 18 hits and six walks across 14 innings.
“I want to go out there and do my best,” Montas said. “This is not my best.”
Blue Jays leadoff man George Springer served as a thorn in the Yankees’ side, going 5-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
“He was in another world tonight,” Montas said.
Montas worked around Springer’s leadoff double in the first inning but ran into trouble in the second. Teoscar Hernandez singled and Matt Chapman doubled before Santiago Espinal grounded into a fielder’s choice that put the Blue Jays up 1-0.
With two outs, Montas made his costliest mistakes when he walked No. 9 hitter Whit Merrifield on four pitches. That turned the lineup over to Springer, who hit a bloop single to center field to make it 2-0.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then took a visit to the short porch, roping a three-run home run to push the Blue Jays’ lead to 5-0.
The Yankees chipped away at the deficit in the third inning, with Berrios’ throwing error on DJ LeMahieu’s infield single bringing in a run and Aaron Judge driving in another on a fielder’s choice to make it 5-2.
Oswaldo Cabrera later added a pair of hits, including a double for his first major league hit, but the Yankees let them go to waste.
“Still looking for that traction to really get it rolling,” Boone said. “The long ball hasn’t been there and that’s a big scoring component. I thought tonight was better than what we saw in that seven-game stretch where it was really tough. But we need to be better.”
The Blue Jays got to Montas for another run in the sixth inning to make it 6-2 before blowing the game open in the seventh with three runs off Albert Abreu, who has given up seven earned runs over his last 10 ²/₃ innings.
