Jordan Montgomery Hammered as D-backs Fall to Giants

The Diamondbacks lost 9-3 to the Giants in the final game of their three-game homestand, taking the series 2-1, behind Jordan Montgomery's roughest outing of the season. They are now 29-33, half a game behind the Giants, and 1.5 games back of a Wild Card spot.

After escaping a two-on, one-out jam in the first inning, and retiring the side with a walk in the second, the wheels began to fall off for Montgomery in the third.

He allowed a leadoff single, followed by a two-run shot by Heliot Ramos, erasing the D-backs' 1-0 lead, courtesy of a Corbin Carroll leadoff single and a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. RBI in the bottom of the first.

It only worsened from there for Monty. Three singles, a walk and a towering grand slam off the bat of Wilmer Flores later, the lefty exited to boos from the Chase Field crowd and a 6-1 deficit. He did not record a single out in the inning, and his ERA ballooned up to 6.80.

Left-hander Logan Allen took the wheel, and filled in admirably to make up the rest of Montgomery's start. He ended the inning scoreless, despite having two on with no outs, and loading the bases with two outs.

Allen went on to throw three strong innings. While he did work around some base traffic, allowing three walks and two hits, no runs scored against the lefty, and he struck out the side in the fifth, collecting five total punchouts. For more on Allen's unsung role in the D-backs bullpen, click here.

Right-hander Bryce Jarvis entered the game in the top of the sixth inning, with bases loaded and no outs. Eugenio Suarez made two stellar defensive plays, snagging a couple of sharp grounders to third base and throwing home both times for the force out. Mike Yastrzemski flied out to end the inning scoreless.

The D-backs' offense did have plenty of chances to strike, but failed to put together the necessary lopsided inning. Arizona went 2-for-14 with RISP, managing just three runs on nine hits. Joc Pederson walked with the bases loaded to force in a run, and Pavin Smith smashed a solo home run to right field in the fifth, pulling within three, but that was all the offense could muster.

“Throughout the course of the game, we were… one hit away from putting up a big number,” said manager Torey Lovullo, “that big two-out hit was elusive.”

Unfortunately for the D-backs, that was the closest the game would be. Left-hander Brandon Hughes entered in the eighth, allowing a moonshot of a solo home run to Jorge Soler. A single, double, two walks and a sacrifice fly in the ninth put the game effectively out of reach, despite Arizona getting a pair of base hits from Gurriel and Smith in the home half.

D-backs arms were anything but efficient. In one of the lengthiest games of the year, spanning 3 hours and 30 minutes, Arizona set a franchise record for most pitches thrown by their staff in a nine-inning game, with 220 pitches thrown. Only 123 of them were thrown for strikes, good for a just-below 56% strike rate.

Lovullo spoke on Montgomery's rough game, citing location as the ultimate issue, rather than the fact that his velocity is down a tick or two.

“You’ve got to be able to put the ball on the plate, and maneuver around the zone, and if you’re not, you're going to have those types of moments," said Lovullo, "I thought Jordan was really grinding away. Those first couple innings were solid, I thought it was coming together for him, and it slipped away from him."

“I think there were some mistakes, there were some inconsistencies with his ability to land the secondary stuff, spot up the fastball… He wanted to soldier on, I can guarantee you… but there was such a big number in that third inning, I wanted to protect him.”

Lovullo emphasized the importance of command, stating he doesn't care if the velocity is down, as long as Montgomery places the ball, rather than trying to manufacture velocity.

“Creating power is never a good thing, you’ve just got to trust that everything’s going to be synced up… when you try to create it artificially it can create some problems,” Lovullo said.

Montgomery was noticeably frustrated with his poor showing, and understandably so.

“Yeah, I mean baseball’s definitely got me in the furnace right now. Just got to be a good teammate and keep working hard, and try and get out of it,” Montgomery said.

He noted that "everything" felt like the issue, and that there appears to be more negatives than positives with his current game. Although some might posit that the absence of a proper Spring Training could have been a factor in his struggles, Montgomery refused to place the blame on his unique ramp-up period.

“No, I just stink,” he said.

Despite the ugly number, and Montgomery's frustration with his performance, Lovullo still expressed confidence in his starter.

“I know that he’s going to figure this out, and we’re going to continue to coach him up and push him in the right direction, that’s all we know how to do here," Lovullo said.

The D-backs will have to shake off this rough loss as they travel to San Diego to take on the Padres Thursday night at Petco Park. First pitch is 6:40 PM Arizona time, with young right-hander Slade Cecconi getting the start.