NEW YORK -- The comebacker rocketed toward the mound at more than 100 miles per hour, striking Jordan Montgomery near the left knee, a collision against bone that was audible from Yankee Stadium’s press level. The Yankees hurler whirled toward center field and yelped in agony.
Writhing on the infield grass, Montgomery soon ignored the pulsing discomfort, swiftly shifting his mindset from "injury" to "pitch." He wanted the ball. Despite New York’s 4-3 loss to the Red Sox on Sunday, the gutsy effort helped ease the load on a bullpen that has been heavily used through three games.
“It caught me weird,” Montgomery said. “The shock of it hitting me, I just went down like a tree.”
The 29-year-old underwent X-rays on Sunday that were negative, and despite swelling, he plans to make his next start as scheduled on Friday against the Orioles -- an encouraging development, considering that Montgomery’s season debut almost seemed to be over before it began.
“To see him rolling around like that in pain was certainly concerning,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The tests that he was able to get through suggested that as long as he could tolerate it, he was going to be OK.”
After a strikeout and a pop-fly single to open the evening, Xander Bogaerts barreled a 94.3 mph Montgomery sinker, sending it toward center field at 102.8 mph off the bat.
Montgomery’s 6-foot-6 frame was in the way. Play halted with Boston runners at first and second bases, and as Boone took stock of the hobbled hurler wincing near the third-base line, right-hander Clarke Schmidt removed a jacket and began to toss in the right-field bullpen.
“It was in a weird spot and it caught me right on the bone,” Montgomery said. “It sounded pretty loud, but I got up and walked it off.”
A hearty round of applause from the crowd urged Montgomery back to the mound, where he slipped a glove back on his right hand and tossed three practice fastballs.
Two sailed high out of the strike zone, but Montgomery adjusted his mechanics to compensate for the aching knee, popping catcher Jose Trevino’s glove on target. Boone exhaled, returning to the dugout, and Schmidt cooled in the bullpen.
“He’s a competitor,” Schmidt said. “He’s been doing this for a while. I kind of had a little doubt; I was throwing, but it wasn’t like I was down there throwing with a ton of intent. I kind of had a feel that he was going to go back out there, which he did. He went out there and gave us some length, which helped out our bullpen a lot.”
Montgomery would have preferred to author a different conclusion to the inning, but J.D. Martinez banged an 81.8 mph changeup into the left-field corner for a run-scoring double and Bobby Dalbec was hit by a pitch before Christian Arroyo lifted a sacrifice fly, giving Boston its third first-inning lead of the series.
“I tried not pushing too hard, just to keep us in it and not be out in the first inning,” Montgomery said.
After the first inning, Montgomery received treatment in the Yankees’ clubhouse, wrapping the knee and applying heat therapy to keep it loose on a blustery 48-degree night. Montgomery tossed zeros in the second and third innings, supported by Giancarlo Stanton’s run-scoring hit in the third that halved the deficit.
Montgomery opened the fourth inning with a strikeout-wild pitch to Christian Arroyo and allowed an Alex Verdugo single before recording an out, prompting Boone to raise his right hand for Schmidt, who’d later surrender a go-ahead homer to Dalbec in the sixth.
The Yanks couldn’t answer that blast, unable to move a runner past first base through the rest of the game. Though Aaron Judge, Stanton and Joey Gallo struck out in the ninth against Jake Diekman, Montgomery’s health provided something of a silver lining.
“You would like to get a clean four or five innings, but honestly I thought I executed and made some good pitches,” said Montgomery, whose pitch count ended at 58. “I’m happy I could stay out there and at least get stretched out to three innings.”