Yankees Fall Victim to Monty-zuma's Revenge

Last night, the Yankees played the middle game of a 3-game series away to the St Louis Cardinals. It is important to note that the Cardinals are in 1st place in the National League Central Division, so it should not be surprising that they are playing very well right now.

However, at the rate Yankees have been going lately, there were people who were predicting that Jordan Montgomery, having been traded to the Cardinals for not much, would pitch a no-hitter in his 1st game for them, against the Yankees.

He came close enough to call his performance "Monty-zuma's Revenge." He only pitched 5 innings, but allowed just 2 hits, both singles, by Aaron Judge in the 1st inning and Kyle Higashioka in the 3rd. The Cardinal bullpen didn't allow any hits, either.

Domingo Germán pitched pretty well, also, going 5 innings, and allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and no walks. Unfortunately, as it so often has this season, the 1st inning of the game told the story. In the Yankees' half, DJ LeMahieu flew out, Judge singled, Josh Donaldson drew a walk, and Gleyber Torres, perhaps inevitably, grounded into a double play.

Whereas, in the Cardinals' half, Germán got the 1st 2 outs, then faced the Cardinals' 2 best hitters. Paul Goldschmidt hit a double, and Nolan Arenado drove him home with a single. That would be the only run the Cardinals got, or needed.

Montgomery, for once, got exactly enough run support, now that he's no longer a Yankee. Because he was so stupidly let go, for a very little, by Brian Cashman, he could turn out to be the next Nathan Eovaldi, minus the nasty injury that caused Cashman to let Eovaldi go in the first place.

Cardinals 1, Yankees 0. WP: Montgomery (4-3). SV: Giovanny Gallegos (11). LP: Germán (1-2).

The series concludes this afternoon. Frankie Montas makes his Yankee debut, against the possible future Hall-of-Famer, Adam Wainwright. Can the Yankees salvage this finale? I wouldn't count on it.