Frankie Montas wasn’t fully healthy when traded to Yankees from Athletics

Associated PressMar 8, 2023, 3:57 PM EST
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
1 Comment

TAMPA, Fla. — Frankie Montas said that his shoulder wasn’t fully healthy when he was acquired by the New York Yankees at the trade deadline last season, but the right-handed starter said he tried to “push through” after joining his new team.

Montas, who went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts last season after being obtained from Oakland, is recovering from shoulder surgery that will keep him from throwing until at least late May.

“I was trying to push through,” Montas told reporters in his first comments since surgery two weeks earlier. “I got traded to a new team and wanted to show what I could do. Things didn’t go the way I was expecting.”

The Yankees placed Montas on the injured list in late September after his second cortisone injection of the year, knocking him out of the AL Division Series. He was on the roster for the AL Championship Series, but pitched only one inning in the opener against Houston.

Montas said he kept experiencing discomfort when trying to begin a throwing program during the offseason. While he tried to avoid surgery, he said that was the best option, and that he is confident that he will pitch this season for the Yankees.

“Trust me, I’m one of the guys that wants to be out there pitching right now and showing what I can do,” he said. “But things didn’t work out that way, so just trying to rehab and come back so I can help with whatever they want me to do.”

After Montas had surgery Feb. 21, Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the procedure as the pitcher having his labrum cleaned up without any repairs being needed on his rotator cuff. Boone said everything went according to plan.

New York acquired Montas and reliever Lou Trivino from the Athletics on Aug. 1 in exchange for four prospects.

Montas, who turns 30 on March 21 and could become a free agent after this season, made 19 starts for the A’s last year before getting traded. He was 4-9 with a 3.18 ERA over 104 1/3 innings.

In the weeks before the deal, he left a July 3 start at Seattle after 13 pitches with shoulder tightness, then had a cortisone shot before returning with three scoreless innings July 21 against Detroit. He went five innings against Houston in his last start for Oakland.

Doval escapes in the 9th as Giants hold off Yanks 7-5

Associated PressApr 1, 2023, 10:49 PM EDT
Getty Images
0 Comments

NEW YORK (AP) Camillo Doval retired Giancarlo Stanton on a game-ending, double-play grounder with the bases loaded and the San Francisco Giants hung on for a 7-5 victory over the New York Yankees on Saturday.

Doval gave up Aaron Judge’s RBI single in the ninth, the slugger’s third hit, but earned his first save when Stanton hit a ground ball to shortstop Brandon Crawford, who started a double play that withstood a video review. Second baseman Thairo Estrada made a low throw to first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr., who scooped the ball.

“Live and it looked before they paused, he kept it long enough,” Crawford said of Estrada. “LaMonte was definitely on the bag. I wasn’t too worried.”

There were four pitch clock violations, the most of any game in the first three days of the new rule. Two were by Doval in the ninth inning, and the Giants’ Taylor Rogers and the Yankees’ Albert Abreu had one each.

“We didn’t see any of that sort of thing in spring training,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “We saw a good mastery of it. This is a different environment and it’s understandable that things sped up a little bit, but no pitcher’s going to survive giving away balls like that. It doesn’t matter how good you are.”

New York’s Anthony Volpe got his first two big league hits and became the first Yankees player to steal a base in each of his first two games since Fritz Maisel in 1913. No major leaguer had accomplished the feat since Billy Hamilton in 2013.

But the 21-year-old shortstop also had Estrada’s RBI single carom off his glove as the Giants scored twice in the sixth inning for a 5-3 lead.

New York built a 2-0 lead helped by pitcher Alex Cobb’s throwing error and Stanton’s first home run, a 112 mph drive to the opposite field down the right-field line. But the Yankees went 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runs as the Giants rallied.

Joc Pederson hit a solo homer and Crawford hit a two-run drive in a three-run fourth against Clarke Schmidt, the first home run for the Giants on a 3-0 pitch since Buster Posey in the 2021 NL Division Series.

Crawford went 3 for 5 with a double and scored twice to go along with a stolen base. It was the second time in his career he a three-hit game with a double, homer, two runs scored and a steal.

“It was a good day. I guess my best game of the year so far,” Crawford said with a laugh.

Anthony Rizzo’s RBI double off Jakub Junis (1-0) tied it 3-3 in the fifth, and the Giants scored two runs in the sixth without hitting a ball out of the infield.

Wade Jr. hit a go-ahead RBI single when his soft hit went to the third base side of the mound, and David Villar scored the go-ahead run when Michael King (0-1) and catcher Jose Trevino converged and could not make a throw. King was making his return from a broken elbow last July 22.

After King struck out Michael Conforto, Estrada hit a liner to Volpe, who charged in and had the ball go off the heel of his glove. Volpe was unable to get the force at second as Crawford scored to put the Giants up 5-3.

“It was a tough one,” Volpe said. “Probably keep me up at night thinking about that. I definitely feel like I should have had it. It was on me.”

Josh Donaldson homered in the eighth off Rogers, three innings after the crowd booed Donaldson for taking a called third strike that stranded two runners.

Mike Yastrzemski added an RBI double and Crawford hit a run-scoring single in a two-run ninth off Clay Holmes.

STARTERS Schmidt allowed three runs and four hits in 3 1/3 innings. Schmidt threw a cutter that he added in the offseason 27 times, including three straight to Pederson for a strikeout in the first.

Cobb gave up two runs and four hits in 3 2/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM Giants: C Joey Bart (back tightness) was a late scratch. Kapler said Bart tweaked his back in batting practice.

Yankees: RHP Luis Severino (right lat strain) threw Friday and Saturday and felt good. … OF Harrison Bader (left oblique strain) took swings in the pool Friday and Saturday and could take swings in a cage next week. … RHP Lou Trivino (right elbow strain) threw off a mound Friday.

UP NEXT New York RHP Jhony Brito makes his major league debut Sunday against San Francisco RHP Ross Stripling. — AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports