Montgomery works 3 innings: 'A good test'

KANSAS CITY -- In this condensed Summer Camp, Royals veteran left-hander Mike Montgomery tried to prepare and treat Friday night’s intrasquad game like it was a normal start in the regular season.

“I tried, but since we can’t get here until a couple hours before,” Montgomery said, “it made it a little tough. You have to do some of your pregame prep work at home.”

Montgomery pitched against a lineup of almost all Royals regulars, from Whit Merrifield to Adalberto Mondesi to Jorge Soler to Alex Gordon.

Montgomery survived the challenge, tossing three innings and giving up four hits and one run. He struck out two.

“It feels good to finally get to face some big league hitters,” Montgomery said. “I haven’t done that in a few months. And we have some really good hitters, so that was a good test.”

Montgomery is progressing right along in terms of pitch count -- he threw about 60 pitches Friday and expects to be able to reach 90-100 by Opening Day weekend in Cleveland.

Montgomery had a few hiccups in the intrasquad game, serving up a long home run to Cam Gallagher in the third inning. But the lefty also fought out of a second-and-third and one-out jam in the second by getting Ryan McBroom to hit a weak grounder to third that resulted in a 5-2-4 double play.

“I thought my stuff was good,” Montgomery said. “I was around the zone mostly. I got out of sync a little in the last inning, but I was able to get out of it. I was able to make some adjustments, and that will get better the more I’m out there.”

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Other highlights from Friday night’s game-like intrasquad that matched Royals veterans against many of their top prospects:

• Mondesi ripped a first-pitch single to left off Montgomery and continues to look like his timing is ahead of everyone else’s pace. Mondesi also had a two-hit scrimmage this week.

• Right-hander Trevor Rosenthal, a virtual lock to make the 30-man roster, tossed a scoreless inning with one strikeout. No radar was available, but it sure looked like Rosenthal was near the 100-mph gas he was throwing in Surprise, Ariz.

“His ball was jumping with good command,” manager Mike Matheny said.

• Non-roster invitee Tyler Zuber, the Royals’ No. 28 prospect per MLB Pipeline, continues to impress, perhaps enough to crack the 30-man roster. The right-hander tossed two scoreless innings with four strikeouts, mostly on a devastating slider.

“That slider was pretty nasty,” Matheny said.

• Left-hander Daniel Lynch, the Royals’ No. 3 prospect, started and threw two scoreless innings, striking out four. Hitters were not picking up his breaking ball.

“Pretty explosive stuff,” Matheny said.

• Third baseman Maikel Franco ripped two shots, one a liner off the left-field wall for a double and the other a lineout to center.

“He was the offensive star tonight,” Matheny said.