The Yankees will turn to rookie Jordan Montgomery on Monday against the Orioles instead of veteran lefty Jaime Garcia to start the key series at Camden Yards.
Joe Girardi pointed to Montgomery’s success against Baltimore this season as the reason for the decision.
“[Montgomery] has pitched OK against them,” Girardi said. “Jaime will be inserted [back into the rotation] somewhere the next time through after this.”
Montgomery faced Baltimore three times and is 1-1 with a 3.31 ERA. He limited the Orioles to two runs in seven innings on June 9 in The Bronx, while Garcia has only pitched against Baltimore once, in 2011.
Montgomery has been solid for most of the season, but the Yankees have tried to limit his innings and sent him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in an attempt to keep his innings down. He’s at 138 innings between the Yankees and the minors this year after throwing 139 ¹/₃ a year ago. He gave up four runs in the first inning against the Indians in his previous outing.
But Garcia has been inconsistent since coming over from the Twins before the non-waiver trade deadline in July.
While Monday’s game might seem to be the type of game the Yankees acquired Garcia to pitch in, the southpaw hasn’t lasted longer than 5 ¹/₃ innings in any of his five starts and has a 5.57 ERA with the Yankees.
“My job is to go out there and help this team win and right now it’s required to help there,” Garcia said. “I’m excited to do what I can. Whenever they call, I’ll try to pitch in.”
Garcia is expected to be available out of the bullpen beginning Monday.
The Yankees managed to get through the entire series against the Red Sox with both Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine available, but Girardi expects to learn of the catchers’ fates “soon” stemming from their involvement in the brawl in Detroit on Aug. 24.
Settlements could cost at least one of them some time against the Orioles.
The Tigers who were punished got their suspensions reduced by a game, with Miguel Cabrera and Alex Wilson beginning their sentences Saturday.
Boston went just 1-for-27 with runners in scoring position in the series- the lone hit coming in the ninth inning Sunday. … Girardi opted to sit G reg Bird against lefty Chris Sale and use Chase Headley at first. It paid off, as Headley homered in the third inning. Bird pinch hit in the seventh and struck out. … Jacoby Ellsbury, in his first start since Aaron Hicks went down with an oblique injury, reached base four times Sunday.
The Yankees and Red Sox are raising money for Hurricane Harvey relief by auctioning off items from Sunday night’s game.
“In difficult times such as this, we stand united with our traditional rival in helping those affected by the hurricane,” Yankees’ managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement. “We hope that fans are inspired to support the hurricane rescue and recovery efforts in whatever way they can.”
Yankees items, including game-used jerseys from all players and coaches from Sunday’s game, will be available to be bid upon.
— additional reporting by Howie Kussoy