Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees' Jordan Montgomery Delivers 'Gutsy' Performance After Injury Scare

Montgomery was able to work through three-plus innings after taking a line drive off his leg in the first inning on Sunday night.

Max Goodman

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NEW YORK — Jordan Montgomery hopped five times, making an effort not to put any weight on his left leg, before crumbling to the infield grass, writhing in pain.

The Yankees starter took a 102.8-mph line drive off the side of his left leg in the first inning of Sunday's loss to the Red Sox, an injury that appeared to be serious as manager Aaron Boone and a member of New York's training staff tended to the left-hander.

Eventually, Montgomery rose to his feet, walking off the pain before hurling some warmup pitches. The southpaw stayed in the game, managing swelling and giving the Yankees his all to last 3.1 innings pitched.

"It's fine, it's going to be a little swollen, but I'll be ready in five days," Montgomery said after the game in New York's clubhouse.

The line drive off the bat of shortstop Xander Bogaerts put two men on in the first inning. When the frame resumed, Montgomery proceeded to allow both runs to score before getting out of the inning, putting New York in an early two-run deficit.

Considering the concern of Montgomery's initial reaction to the comebacker, however, the Yankees dodged a bullet. 

"Seeing him rolling around like that in pain was certainly concerning," Boone said. "Pretty gutsy effort to walk it off and shake it off and felt like the tests he was able to get through suggested that as long as he could tolerate it, he was going to be okay."

Montgomery underwent an X-ray as a precaution and it came back negative. The 29-year-old added that the comebacker struck him on the bone, recalling the loud clunk as it caromed off the outside of his leg, adjacent to his knee.

"Kind of the shock of it hitting me and then it hit me weird where I just went down like a tree," he said. "You would like to get a clean four or five innings, but honestly, I thought I executed and made some good pitches. So I'm happy I could stay out there and at least get kind of stretched out at three innings."

Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt came in to relieve Montgomery during the fourth inning, allowing a sacrifice fly that was credited as the southpaw's third earned run of the night. Montgomery finished with four hits allowed, one walk and four strikeouts, delivering 58 pitches (38 for strikes).

A Bobby Dalbec solo home run off Clarke Schmidt—on the first pitch in the sixth inning—proved to be the difference in a 4-3 loss, a game where the Yankees left 11 runners on base.

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Yankees for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. Goodman has been on the Yankees beat for three seasons. He is also the publisher of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Jets site, Jets Country. Before starting Inside The Pinstripes, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. At school, Goodman was an anchor and reporter with NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. While at Northwestern, Goodman interned with MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman. You can connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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