Jordan Montgomery has gritty World Series start for Rangers, but no Ks in his first postseason loss
As gritty as Jordan Montgomery was in his first World Series start for the Texas Rangers, including an unexpected third time through the middle of an Arizona lineup that had already hurt him, the left-hander just wasn't at his best.
Five days after pitching 2 1/3 innings in relief to win the deciding Game 7 in the AL Championship Series, Montgomery's sinker velocity was down from his season average, as was the spin on his curveball. He got only two swing-and-misses while pitching into the seventh inning, and didn't record a single strikeout.
Montgomery allowed four runs and nine hits in his first postseason loss Saturday night, a 9-1 win by the aggressive Diamondbacks that evened the series at a game apiece. Game 3 is Monday night at Arizona.
Nathan Eovaldi and Montgomery provided the Rangers with quite a 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation by going undefeated through the first three rounds of the playoffs. Neither one of them could repeat that when lined up to open the World Series, though the Rangers rallied for an 11-inning win in the opener after Big Game Nate, their All-Star pitcher, couldn't make it out of the fifth.
Montgomery was a trade-deadline acquisition from the St. Louis Cardinals and the 30-year-old is eligible for free agency after the season had been 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA in his first five postseason games.
That included his first relief appearance this season, though he was on regular rest when he took the mound Saturday at Globe Life Field.
Montgomery became the first pitcher to complete six innings in a World Series game without a strikeout since Atlanta's Greg Maddux in Game 2 against the New York Yankees in 1996. The last starter without any Ks was Yu Darvish for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 against Houston in 2017 — though he didn't get out of the second inning. Darvish was also pulled in the second and didn't strike out anyone in Game 3 of that series.
The Rangers' bullpen was stirring in the fifth inning of Game 2. Montgomery got out of it on consecutive popouts by Ketel Martel and Corbin Carroll, the top two batters in Arizona's lineup.
It certainly seemed like that would be the end of the night for Montgomery, considering what was coming up next.
Arizona had gone ahead 2-0 in a four-batter stretch in the fourth when Gabriel Moreno homered, Tommy Pham hit an out-out double and Lourdes Gurriel drove him in with a single. The only out in that span was on All-Star rookie third baseman Josh Jung's incredible defensive play, when he made a backhanded diving stop, got up in foul territory and threw out Christian Walker at first.
But Montgomery came back out in the sixth and Moreno swung at the first pitch, dribbling a ball about 3 feet in front of the plate — about 410 feet shorter than his homer — where catcher Jonah Heim pounced on the ball. Walker popped up the third pitch before Pham doubled and Gurriel was intentionally walked. Montgomery then picked off Pham, who got too far off second base, to end the inning.
With the bottom of the order due, the Rangers lefty went back out but gave up consecutive hits to the Nos. 7-8 batters to end his night. Both eventually scored, putting Arizona up 4-1.