Three Yanks rehab as Trenton knocks off Bowie in Game 1
TRENTON >> With one game left at Arm & Hammer Park, Trenton will have a chance to bring a 2-0 series lead back to Bowie.
Behind three rehabbing Yankees pitchers and some clutch hitting, the Thunder rallied from an early deficit to beat the Baysox, 6-2, Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern League Championship Series.
Catcher Kellin Deglan batted 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored from the fivehole, including a two-run triple in the sixth inning. Kyle Holder followed with a sac fly to extend Trenton’s lead to 6-2.
Jordan Montgomery, Dellin Betances and Stephen Tarpley tossed the first five innings as part of a triple rehab assignment.
Montgomery allowed two runs, two hits and two balls while fanning two hitters as he upped his pitch count to 50 (30 strikes) in three innings. One run was unearned, although it was Montgomery’s fault as he bounced a ball past first baseman Chris Gittens with runners at the corners.
The outing began inauspiciously after he allowed two runs and threw 20 pitches before recording an out. But after a mound visit with a man on second from an RBI double, the southpaw settled in and retired nine in a row. Only one of those batters hit a ball out of the infield.
His fastball sat at his typical 91-92 mph. The strikeout came on an 83-mph changeup — a pitch he focused on because of Bowie’s righty-heavy lineup.
“I’m getting close (to 100 percent),” Montgomery said. “Arm strength and arm speed is still coming, but once I really kind of get my fastball command down, I should be (getting there).”
Montgomery is recovering from Tommy John surgery after tearing his UCL in June 2018. He made two prior rehab starts: 35 pitches (1.2 innings) for Scranton on Aug. 25, and 19 pitches (two innings) for Trenton last Wednesday in Game 1 of the ELDS.
“My goal is just to get back to pitching, and then whatever happens after that happens,” Montgomery said of the uncertainty surrounding the Yankees’ playoff roster. “It’s good to get back out there and start feeling more comfortable with actually facing hitters and having people in the stands. Hopefully I can back to the big leagues and get used to having a lot of people in the stands.”
Betances relieved Montgomery and fired a scoreless fourth inning, showing similar fastball velocity to his first outing last Friday. After topped out at 94 several times in his first appearance, Betances mostly sat 92-93 on Tuesday. The stadium clocked one at 95.
The big right-hander admitted again that he’s unsure how close he can get his velocity back to its normal high-90s clip before helping the Yankees out of the bullpen in October. He has not pitched this season because of shoulder/lat injuries.
“Obviously that’s something that I’m trying to work on, just getting my arm in shape,” Betances said. “It’s been a long year trying to recover, but today was a little better than the first time, so I’ll take that — every time a little better. That’s how I usually am. It takes me a little bit. I’ve got to kind of pitch to get that going. I’ll get enough outings in September, so hopefully that’ll be there.”
Of his 20 pitches, 11 were strikes and five were swing and misses. Two of those were strikeouts on an 80-mph curveball and a 92-mph fastball. Betances stranded a man at third after allowing a leadoff double on a hanging 79-mph curveball and throwing a wild pitch on a 92-mph fastball.
Betances said he will talk with Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild for the next step in his rehab, but he hopes to pitch one more time for Trenton depending on how the series plays out.
“I felt better today,” Betances said. “I felt like both fastballs and breaking balls were just sharper. I felt like I was more in line. I was around the zone better today, and I felt good getting out there for the second time.”
After Betances departed, Tarpley struck out two and worked around a single and a hit by pitch to toss a scoreless fifth inning.
Tarpley, who has appeared in 16 games for the Yankees this season, has been on the injured list since Aug. 11 with a left elbow impingement.
The Thunder offense struggled early on with situational hitting. The team batted 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in the first two innings, although Ben Ruta’s deep flyout to right center in the bottom of the second was a sign of better results ahead.
In the third, Holder hit an opposite-field single with two strikes and two outs to score Hoy Jun Park. Wagner followed with an RBI single as Deglan crossed the plate to tie the game at 2 when the catcher couldn’t handle a onehop throw from the outfield.
Bowie right-hander Michael Baumann lasted just 3.2 innings while yielding five hits and five walks.
Trenton pulled ahead, 3-2, off lefty reliever Zach Muckenhirn in the fifth. Wagner drew a oneout walk and scored on an Angel Aguilar single plus an error. The ball hung in the air near the line in shallow right field, and then Yusniel Diaz slipped while trying to retrieve the ball.
The Thunder turn to Luis Severino, who will be making his second rehab start, in the final home game Wednesday. Bowie hosts the final three games in the series ThursdaySaturday as Trenton chases its first league title since 2013.