Remember me? Monty burns former club in Cards debut

ST. LOUIS -- A Yankee to begin the week and a Cardinal to end it, Jordan Montgomery got grief from former teammate Gleyber Torres after Saturday’s game for not making eye contact during their two showdowns. As for Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka -- Montgomery’s batterymate since their Single-A days -- the lefty didn’t dare look at him for fear of losing his emotions in front of 48,581 fans at a sold-out Busch Stadium.

As difficult as it was for Montgomery to see his former teammates across the way, the reverse view had to be even harder to fathom for a Yankees team that had little-to-no success against the crafty 6-foot-6 pitcher who had been a part of their organization the past eight seasons.

The Yankees' loss was the Cardinals' gain on Saturday as Montgomery pitched five scoreless innings while the defense of Nolan Arenado and Lars Nootbaar, as well as the relief work of Giovanny Gallegos, proved to be enough for a 1-0 win over New York.

“I was pretty nervous, especially with how hot it was, but once I got through DJ [LeMahieu], it was back to business and I dialed it in,” said Montgomery, who held the Yankees to two hits and a walk over five innings -- just four days after being traded to the Cardinals. “Not necessarily [a grudge], because when I get out there, I’m locked in and I’m a professional and trying to win. I’m just trying to be a competitor and win the game.”

That he did by getting nine ground-ball outs and wisely relying on a St. Louis defense that had five Gold Glovers last season. Of course, one of those Gold Glovers, Harrison Bader, was traded to the Yankees to land Montgomery, who became the Cardinals' first midseason acquisition to throw five scoreless innings since Woody Williams in 2001.

Montgomery, 29, came to the Cardinals following two particularly rocky outings with the Yankees in recent weeks, but if his confidence had been rattled, it didn’t show. After allowing a first-inning single to Aaron Judge -- another one of Montgomery's teammates dating to their time in the Minors -- and a walk to Josh Donaldson, Montgomery had the confidence to throw Torres a 3-2 changeup, and Arenado turned it into a double play.

In the fourth, Arenado showed why he’s a favorite to win his 10th consecutive Gold Glove when he dove to his right and threw out Donaldson from his knees. One look at plays like that, and Montgomery knew his arsenal of heavy sinkers and changeups would pair nicely with the Cardinals' stellar defense.

“We played clean baseball, we made a lot of good plays and Arenado is incredible over there,” Montgomery said. “I’ve heard nothing but great things about him, and I see him on ESPN all the time, and it’s good to see him doing it for me.”

The only impediment for Montgomery was the humidity of an August night in St. Louis. He battled through cramps in his hamstring and calf muscle early on, and he was nearly forced out of the game when they returned at the start of the fifth inning. However, he battled through and got three grounders in his final inning of work.

“It was definitely different than New York, but it’s about the same as South Carolina, so I’ve just got to get used to it again,” said the Sumpter, S.C., native, who picked up his first MLB win since May 31.

The Cardinals helped ensure that Montgomery got the win with more stellar defense. Nootbaar, who had a stellar diving catch in the gap on Friday, made a diving stab of a sinking liner in the eighth to preserve the shutout. According to Statcast, Nootbaar had a 35% catch probability and covered 48 feet in 3.4 seconds.

Joked Arenado: “I was telling [Nootbaar] my play was better, but his was in a bigger situation. It was an unbelievable play.”

Gallegos, who also came to the Cardinals in a midseason trade from the Yankees in 2018, got the final three outs with All-Star closer Ryan Helsley unavailable after pitching the past two days. Gallegos excitedly went to a knee when Judge hit a deep fly ball to lead off the ninth, and then he rallied to strike out Donaldson and Torres.

Part of Montgomery’s shock upon getting traded by the Yankees was being forced to leave a team that has had MLB’s best record for most of the season -- though their current four-game losing streak has dropped them behind the Dodgers. In St. Louis, he’s become a part of a Cardinals squad that has won six in a row.

“Guys are playing such great baseball here and I’m glad I could come in and keep it going,” Montgomery said. “We’re just going to keep trying to play hard and play well.”