A's waste another solid effort by Montas in loss
The bottom line continues to get worse for Frankie Montas, even if his value keeps going up.
Montas made his firstever start for the Athletics at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. He was very good, as he has been pretty much all season. Montas got no offensive support from his teammates, however, in a 2-1 loss that dropped his record to 3-9.
The Athletics are 25-51, and in the process of compiling the worst record in the
majors have scored one run or fewer in 12 of Montas' 16 starts and been shut out four times.
New York, 55-20 and one of several teams looking hard at Montas as a possible pennant-race acquisition, managed just four hits and two runs against him in six innings. Montas walked two, struck out seven and tied his season-high with 105 pitches. He walked two and struck out seven — including major league home run leader Aaron Judge three times. His best fastball topped out at 99.1 miles per hour.
Montas, 29, has a record that in no way reflects how he's pitched. His earned run average was 3.20, he was fourth in the American League in innings pitched, sixth in strikeouts and his 16th start was the most in the majors.
Right-handers came in hitting just .226 against Montas, with lefties checking in at .224.
With a heavy two-seam fastball (sinker), a splitter and a slider, Montas at 6-foot-2, 255 pounds, is the kind of power arm teams will be looking at closely at the trading deadline on Aug. 2 or sooner.
Montas also is relatively affordable, making just over $5 million this season. He is arbitration eligible in 2023 and isn't scheduled for unrestricted free agency until 2024.
In his 16 starts, Montas hasn't pitched less than five innings in any of them and in his previous start on June 23 in Oakland against Seattle took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before giving up two hits. He left with a 1-0 lead only to have his bull