ANAHEIM, Calif. — Frankie Montas hasn’t lived up to expectations since joining the Yankees and he had another rough start in Monday’s 4-3 loss to the Angels, giving up four runs — and three homers — in six-plus innings.
His most costly mistake came on a 1-2 splitter to Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the fifth in a tie game.
Ohtani sent it into the seats for a two-run shot that put the Angels ahead and it came in an at-bat in which Montas threw the reigning AL MVP nothing but splitters.
“He’s a really good hitter and I probably shouldn’t have thrown the same four pitches in a row,” Montas said.
But that wasn’t the only mistake Montas made in his fifth start as a Yankee. He also allowed a leadoff home run to Luis Rengifo in the second and a one-out homer to ex-Yankee Mike Ford in the fourth. It was Ford’s first homer in over a year.
“I thought I threw the ball well,” Montas said. “I just couldn’t keep the ball in the park.”
The right-hander, who had a 3.18 ERA with Oakland when the Yankees acquired him and righty reliever Lou Trivino at the trade deadline, now has a 7.01 ERA in five outings as a Yankee. And the Yankees have lost three of those five outings.
Asked why he hasn’t been as good since the trade, Montas said, “I don’t know. I keep throwing the same pitches. I think it’s a little bit of luck.”
Aaron Boone wasn’t happy with Gleyber Torres’ failure to turn a double play in the bottom of the seventh.
With one on and one out, David Fletcher hit a “taylor-made” double-play ball to Isiah Kiner-Falefa at shortstop. Kiner-Falefa made a perfect feed to Torres at second, but Torres didn’t have his foot on the bag and Matt Thaiss was ruled safe at second following a challenge by the Angels.
“You’ve got to make sure you have the bag,” Boone said. “That’s not one you have to rush.”
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