On a night when the Yankees absolutely needed a strong starting pitching performance, lefty Jordan Montgomery stepped up.

Pitching in a win-or-go-home Game 4 of the ALDS, the 27-year-old gave the Yankees four very solid innings, allowing just one earned run on three hits while striking out four Rays.

“It was a big-time outing,” said Aaron Boone after the Yankees’ 5-1 win. “We just needed him to give us a little bit. Obviously, having not gone to the mound in a couple weeks, (I) was hopeful he could get through two times through the lineup, but anything he could have given us there early we were going to take.”

Tampa Bay had its fair share of baserunners against Montgomery, putting men on in three of the four innings that the lefty pitched. But Montgomery always found a way to get out of trouble. Yandy Diaz led off the game with a single, but that was erased on a quick double play. Montgomery then struck out the red-hot Randy Arozarena to end the first, seeming to set the tone early.

Following a 1-2-3 second inning and two runs of support from the Yankees’ offense, Montgomery walked Willy Adames and gave up an opposite-field double to Kevin Kiermaier to start the third, but he allowed just one run on a Brandon Lowe force play, escaping further damage to maintain the lead.

He allowed two more base-runners in the fourth on a Ji-Man Choi single and an Adames walk, but he once again danced around danger to not allow a run.

All in all, it was quite the effort from a young pitcher who had not toed the rubber since Sept. 24.

“He goes out there and has a really clean first inning, and then does a great job getting out two jams,” said Boone. “The one run, limits them with the bases loaded in the third, and then in the fourth he had a couple guys on and he gets out of it. So, great job of setting the tone for us, giving us exactly what we needed to obviously turn it over to the backend. I thought he was really good. He dictated some counts, you saw the swings and misses out of the zone, and he made some big pitches when he needed to most, too.”

“Just tried to keep my rhythm and timing in check throughout the game,” Montgomery said. “I lost it a little bit there in third after that long time in the dugout, but kind of bared down and made a couple pitches when I had to.”

For Montgomery, his first postseason start has been a long time coming. Following Tommy John surgery in May 2018, the lefty had been on the outside looking in on the Yankees’ last two postseason appearances.

But Montgomery got his chance on Thursday, and he delivered when his teammates needed him most.

“I would have loved for 30,000 fans to be in the stands, but definitely with the season being on the line -- just, this team’s got more fight,” Montgomery said. “So, it definitely lived up to (my expectations).”

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