Nine days after he made his 2019 debut for the Yankees with mixed results as a reliever during last Sunday's 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Jordan Montgomery looked more like himself when the southpaw took the mound for Tuesday's start.
As an opener for the first of two games with the Rays, Montgomery bounced back from the up-and-down season debut and delivered through his 2.0 innings on the bump Tuesday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Montgomery fired a pair of scoreless frames, scattering three hits while striking out three and walking none, with the Yankees eventually jumping out to a 1-0 lead on CF Cameron Maybin's solo home run in the top of the third inning.
Combined with Montgomery's relief appearance against the Blue Jays, the 26-year-old LHP boasts five strikeouts to no walks with three runs on seven hits -- one home run, a solo shot -- in 4.0 innings.
After he had a setback from his June 2018 Tommy John surgery, Montgomery kept on track to rejoin the Yankees in September and remains a candidate to contribute when the postseason begins.
Before he started his road to recovery from the left elbow injury, Montgomery made a splash as a 24-year-old rookie during the 2017 campaign, going 11-7 with a 3.84 ERA and 167 strikeouts to 63 walks in 35 starts -- 182.2 innings -- of the Yankees' ALCS run.
.@JACKCurryYES evaluation for Jordan Montgomery's September?
- YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 24, 2019
"Mission accomplished" #YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/PsnzpVY7vv