Montas Stinks Again. Oswaldo Cabrera Gets 1st 2 Hits! Toronto 9 NY 2

August 18, 2022 paperbacklou 2022 0

Frankie Montas got Lit Up for 5 runs in the 2nd inning by the Toronto Blue Jays and allowed 6 runs overall in 6 innings of pitching — his 2nd 6-run start in 3 games as a Yankee. Albert Abreu got ripped too in the 9-2 loss to the Blue Jays on a warm, summer Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.

The Montas start left Yankee Twitter thinking they’d gotten another overrated pitcher from the Oakland A’s, like Sonny Gray — causing the old proverb to surface:

  • “Trade me a pitcher whose stats look great because of the huge foul ground in Oakland, like Sonny Gray, shame on you.
  • Trade me a pitcher just like him in Frankie Montas, shame on you Brian Cashman.”

After Abreu came in with gasoline in the 7th, adding 3 more Toronto runs to the fire to make it 9-2, Jordan Montgomery and Clarke Schmidt‘s names started to trend — with Yankee Twitter wondering why they’d traded Montgomery and why Schmidt was in AAA after pitching great in Michael King‘s old role, while the Yanks had made Abreu a cornerstone of the pen.

At least Oswaldo Cabrera got his first 2 Major League hits. “It was amazing,” said Cabrera of how it felt to get his first Major League hit. “I can’t describe how that feels. But at that moment I was just in the sky.”

The loss pulled Toronto and Tampa (which also won) to within 9 games of NY. Baltimore remains 11.5 out and Boston remains 14 out.

1. Montas Stunk Again

Frankie Montas pitched a scoreless 1st inning but fell apart in the 2nd — a leadoff single, then one-out double by Matt Chapman put 2nd and 3rd, and a fielder’s choice groundout by Santiago Espinal made it 1-0 Toronto — but Chapman was tagged out at 3rd so it was 2 outs and a runner on 1st.

But then Montas walked Whit Merrifield, and allowed a single to George Springer to make it 2-0. George Springer would go 5-5 on the evening.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., up next, hit a 362-foot bomb to right — a 3-run homer — just over the leaping try of Aaron Judge and over the right-centerfield wall — and it was Toronto 5 NY 0.

After that, Montas settled down — pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd and 4th.

But more trouble in the 5th: two singles and a double made it 6-0 Toronto.

Montas pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th to call it a night — NY down 6-2 at the time.

“I felt like I was in the zone, just that 2nd inning I was missing my spots,” said Montas afterwards. “They’re a really good team, and when you miss your spots, you’re going to pay the price.”

2. Abreu Stunk Again

And then Abreu came in with the gasoline in the 7th: leadoff single by George Springer, error by LeMahieu, and walk to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. loaded the bases.

A sac fly by Alejandro Kirk made it 7-2, and then a 2-run double by Teoscar Hernandez put the game away. Toronto 9 NY 2.

And the boos rang down. And the talk of why Clarke Schmidt wasn’t here while Abreu had been made into a lynch pin of the bullpen after being DFA’d by Texas filled Yankee Twitter.

3. Yankee Offense Stunk Again

Meanwhile the Yankee offense was anemic again — this time against Jose Berrios — who came in with an 8-5 5.61 record.

The Yankees got their 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd — Jose Trevino led off with a walk, Estevan Florial was hit by a pitch, and DJ LeMahieu reached on an error by Berrios — scoring Trevino to make it 5-1.

Aaron Judge grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring a run to make it 5-2.

And that was pretty much it for the Yankee offense. NY did get two runners on in the 7th with 2 outs, but Judge struck out to end the inning.

4. Cabrera Gets His First 2 Big League Hits

About the only good news for NY was that rookie Oswaldo Cabrera — in his second Big League game — got 2 hits in 4 at bats.

According to Katie Sharp, Cabrera became “the first Yankee since Derek Jeter in 1995 to have a multi-hit game as a SS in either his 1st or 2nd career game.”

Etcetera

The Tweet of the night went to Yankee fan @CaribSaint, who tweeted “Like I said. Why get pissed anymore? At the end of the day, just a game. I will die a Yankee fan, but I won’t let this stretch make me miserable. Too many things in life to enjoy, like this Margarita #RepBx”

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355991

 

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