Jordan Montgomery Give Reds Different Look in his Arsenal

The D-backs left-hander utilized a pitch he hadn't thrown in years to help overcome back-to-back outings against Cincinnati.

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery (52) gestures before throwing to the Los / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY

The Diamondbacks defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 at Chase Field last night in walk-off fashion. Veteran shortstop Kevin Newman delivered the clutch 2-run hit to walk off closer Alexis Diaz and send D-backs fans home happy.

But before it came down to the wire, starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery delivered another solid start. It might not have been the big left-hander's best outing, as he only survived 5 1/3 innings, allowing six hits, three walks and three earned runs, but he once again was able to generally control the game and allow the D-backs to stay within contention once the offense came back to life. He was two outs away from recording his fourth Quality Start in his first five appearances.

Montgomery faced a unique challenge for the D-backs, as he made his second straight start against the Cincinnati Reds. This can offer an advantage to hitters sometimes, if they are able to recognize a pitcher's stuff and sequencing patterns, and can occasionally lead to an early ambush, even against the better arms.

But Montgomery held it down admirably, even if some contact went against him. The lefty said he felt “pretty good" about his outing, even if it wasn't his flashiest box score.

"I mean that’s a good lineup. So facing them back-to-back, you know it’s going to be a dog fight and a grind. Made some good pitches, made some bad pitches, but the defense played great, [Gabriel Moreno] caught a great game, and made some blocks, and we won.”

Grind he did, as it took the big southpaw 101 pitches to get through 5 1/3 innings. Only 57 of those were strikes. But Montgomery noted that, although a rematch might give the batters some advantage, it gave him the freedom to experiment and try some different looks.

“You just kind of get to do a little bit of everything," said Montgomery, "I think they know what I’m trying to do, and you’ve got to stick with that, but you’ve got to kind of go out of the box sometimes too, especially for the super talented guys.”

And Montgomery did just that. Despite the ugly strike percentage, Montgomery utilized his already-diverse arsenal to generate 17 swing-and-misses. That was his season high by seven whiffs, and led to seven punchouts over 5 1/3 innings. Montgomery rarely profiles as a strikeout-heavy arm, relying mostly on soft contact and ground balls, but he was able to miss bats at an impressive rate in Monday night's game.

Most intriguing about this outing, perhaps, was the fact that Montgomery recorded eight sliders in the contest. The "new" pitch measured out around 82 MPH, with slightly below average spin and break. The southpaw said he hadn't thrown a slider in a game since 2017, although Baseball Savant shows him to have used it in 2018.

But regardless of the exact date, the new look worked against Cincinnati. On eight sliders, Montgomery recorded an impressive five whiffs, throwing the batters off as he utilized a pitch that certainly had not been scouted for him. No Reds batter made contact with the pitch, either taking them outside the zone or whiffing on all five swing attempts.

Montgomery said he'd been working on the pitch since he stopped throwing it years ago. As is often the case with D-backs pitchers, pitching coach Brent Strom was the man behind the exhumation of the left-hander's secret weapon.

“I’d been working on it since 2017. Strommy said it’s good, so he wanted to throw it in there,” said Montgomery, with a laugh, “I didn’t have much going else, so I might as well rip some... Still a work in progress, but it’s good to get it out in the game.”

Whether or not the pitch itself is elite, the new look was a weapon against the Reds' lineup, especially facing them back-to-back. Whether the pitch becomes a strong new staple of Montgomery's arsenal, or simply something to keep in his back pocket for emergencies, it's encouraging to have a crafty veteran on the mound every fifth day who can adapt and execute, even if the command is struggling.

“If you’re executing pitches, you’re always in an advantage, so that’s what it always comes down to, is executing your pitch," Montgomery said.

The D-backs will be back in action against the Reds tonight at Chase Field. First pitch is at 6:40 PM Arizona time.