NEW YORK (AP) The way Jordan Montgomery keeps his cool on the mound, it’s hard to believe he’s a rookie.
The way the New York Yankees keep winning games lately, it’s easy to forget who they’re missing.
Montgomery took a shutout into the seventh inning for his first major league win while Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer in his return to the lineup as the Yankees romped to their eighth consecutive victory by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-4 on Monday night.
”We’ve just kind of found a nice rhythm and a nice recipe,” Holliday said.
The veteran slugger triggered a five-run third with a titanic shot into the raised bleachers beyond the left-center bullpen, his first home run at Yankee Stadium. Aaron Judge added a two-run drive to chase Derek Holland (1-2) with the score 7-0 in the fifth.
Despite playing without injured catcher Gary Sanchez and shortstop Didi Gregorius, the Baby Bombers have rebounded from a 1-4 start with the club’s longest winning streak since a 10-game run in June 2012.
”We’ve got guys in this room that can handle their business and are showing it,” backup catcher Austin Romine said. ”They want that opportunity.”
Making his second career start, Montgomery (1-0) immediately found himself in a first-inning jam. But the 24-year-old lefty calmly pitched out of it by setting down slumping cleanup hitter Jose Abreu and streaking Avisail Garcia with runners at second and third.
”Just went out there and kind of stayed within myself,” said Montgomery, who pitched in the College World Series when he was in his first year at South Carolina. ”Hopefully the first of many, so I’m not trying to make too big a deal of it.”
Garcia began the night leading the majors with a .465 batting average, yet Montgomery never flinched.
”He’s got poise beyond his years,” Holliday said. ”He’s got a very veteran demeanor to him.”
Starlin Castro had three hits for New York and Judge drove in three runs. Castro and Chase Headley hit successive doubles after Holliday’s homer, estimated at 459 feet as New York won its first seven home games for the first time since 1998.
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