Monty goes yard for the 1st time

Cubs pitcher, Hart High grad homers off Cy Young winner

The Comcast SportsNet Chicago broadcasters couldn’t help themselves.

As Mike Montgomery trotted around the bases at SunTrust Park in Atlanta on Wednesday after the first home run of his major league career, the CSN play-by-play and color guys joked about the Hart High graduate finding his way around the bases and having solved the staple pitch of a former Cy Young Award winner.

“That’s how you hit the knuckleball. Mike Montgomery knows the secret,” one said after the lefty turned on a hanging pitch from R.A. Dickey, the 2012 National League Cy Young honoree.

In 29 career at-bats over three big league seasons, Montgomery had two hits, both singles.

Then, Wednesday, he timed up Dickey’s fifth-inning pitch and deposited it in the Chophouse, an event venue in right field.

“The first homer was pretty exciting, as I have a bunch of family here,” Montgomery said, according to an article on MLB.com. “To do it in front of them is a lot of fun . ... He fell behind 2-0, and I thought about taking to get back in the count, and then I decided I was just going to swing. He put it right [in] the only place I could hit it.”

As for the job the Cubs are paying Montgomery to do, he was stellar on that front, too. In six innings, Montgomery allowed one run on two hits. He struck out five and walked one on the way to his second win of the year (the final score was 8-2).

He is 2-6 with a 3.83 ERA.