Former KC prospect, pitching for Mariners, dominates Royals in 7-0 shutout

The jitters coursed through Mike Montgomery’s system as he took the mound Tuesday night. He tried not to look into the opposing dugout at the Kansas City Royals, the team he once called his own. The nervousness lasted for about four batters — long enough to tease the Royals into thinking a rout was at hand, and short enough to render the rest of the evening utter misery.

With 10 strikeouts, Montgomery became the latest lefty to beat the Royals as he tossed a shutout the Mariners’ 7-0 win. Kansas City managed only three hits, and just one after the second inning. Montgomery extricated himself from a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first, stranded two more runners in the second and had little reason to fret thereafter.

“After that third inning, a switch flipped,” Montgomery said. “I just had confidence in really all my stuff.”

The Royals lacked an answer. The team experienced breakdowns in three phases of the game. The offense squandered early opportunities, which begat defensive miscues, which begat Jeremy Guthrie sputtering into a thrashing.

Six runs were charged to Guthrie (5-5, 5.90 ERA), who lasted five innings and could not match Montgomery. The Royals shipped Montgomery to the Tampa Bay Rays two years ago as part of the trade for James Shields and Wade Davis. Manager Ned Yost felt Montgomery mastered his team with

“You’re like, ‘Why are we swinging at so many pitches out of the zone?’” Yost said. “But it was the changeup that looked like it was a fastball, and then the bottom fell out of it. It started coming in as a strike, and then it just faded away.”

On a night like this, they could ill afford a meltdown from Guthrie. The phenomenon has become common in 2015 for Guthrie, whose future in the rotation depends on the health and reliability of returning pitchers such as Danny Duffy, Yordano Ventura, Jason Vargas and Kris Medlen.

Medlen will make his second rehabilitation start for Class AA Northwest Arkansas. Duffy rejoins the rotation on Wednesday night in the series finale at Safeco Field. Both Ventura and Vargas are at least a week from serious consideration.

The Mariners dropped back-to-back three-run rallies on Guthrie in the fourth and fifth. The first involved a pair of walks and a rare outfield misplay by Alex Gordon. The second involved a righteous burst of power from the Mariners, including a two-run homer by outfielder Dustin Ackley.

After three scoreless innings, Guthrie missed high on four pitches to third baseman Kyle Seager with one out in the fourth. Outfielder Seth Smith hit a single. Next Ackley lifted a flare to left field, where Gordon slid to settle underneath it. The baseball collided with the inner pocket of his glove then rolled through the webbing. The bases were loaded.

Guthrie failed to challenge light-hitting shortstop Brad Miller, who had already popped up to strand a pair of runners in the second. This time, Guthtrie kept landing too far inside. Miller walked to force in Seattle’s first run. Catcher Mike Zunino roped a single to left for another tally. Logan Morrison hit an RBI groundout to complete the scoring.

“I had a chance to get out of it, but I just walked the guy,” Guthrie said. “I made a poor pitch. I should have actually went with another pitch, instead of a changeup with the bases loaded to Miller.”

Seattle returned to business in the fourth. Second baseman Robinson Cano boomed a leadoff double. Three batters later, Smith hit a liner toward shallow right field, where second baseman Omar Infante was positioned in the shift. Infante did not dive for the baseball, and it was scored an RBI single.

What followed was not difficult to predict. Guthrie left a sinker at the waist of Ackley. His homer just cleared the 380-foot marker on the fence in right-center field. It was only the fifth inning, but the game was, in effect, complete. Ackley entered the day with a .600 batting average against Guthrie. He finished with three more hits off him.

“In the video, most of the pitches he had done damage had been low pitches,” Guthrie said. “So I tried to work up in the zone better. And he did damage on those today as well.”

Kansas City chose Montgomery in the sandwich round of the 2008 draft, 33 picks after they selected Eric Hosmer. Along with Danny Duffy and John Lamb, Montgomery looked like a potential building block for their big-league rotation. Baseball America ranked Montgomery among their top 40 prospects in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Along the way, Montgomery clashed with Royals officials about his training regimen. Montgomery developed an affinity for long toss that the Royals felt was detrimental to his in-game success and long-term development. The team tried various methods to alter Montgomery’s habits.

At one point in 2010, when Yost was an adviser to general manager Dayton Moore, he set up a conversation between Montgomery and future Hall of Famer John Smoltz. Montgomery grew up rooting for the Braves, and Yost thought Smoltz could help motivate the youngster to cut back on long-tossing. The message did not take. Few did.

“They told him, ‘OK, you’re not doing it at the stadium anymore,’” Yost said. “He was like, ‘OK.’ And then I heard that he was going to a park and doing it.”

Yet the Royals appreciated the diligence, dedication and stubbornness of Montgomery. His stock tumbled in the years after Kansas City dealt him. He toiled in Tampa Bay’s minor-league system, and a few days before the start of 2015, the Rays shipped him to Seattle. Montgomery spent a couple of months in Class AAA before earning a call-up to the majors.

Yost suspected Montgomery would be motivated when facing his former club.

“You don’t think those things affect players that much, but they do,” Yost said.

The Royals missed an early opportunity to batter Montgomery. After a pair of singles in the first, Montgomery clipped Lorenzo Cain with a curveball. The bases were loaded, with none out, for Eric Hosmer.

Montgomery did not appear perturbed by the matchup. He dispatched Hosmer in four pitches, three of them fastballs, the last two located low and outside the strike zone. Hosmer flailed anyway for an unproductive strikeout. Next Kendrys Morales hacked at the first pitch he saw, a fastball that was also not a strike. His grounder rolled to first base, where Logan Morrison started an inning-ending double play.

Montgomery snuffed out a similar scenario in the second. With two on and none out, he struck out Alex Rios with a 2-2 changeup at the knees. Omar Infante struck out on three pitches. At least Alcides Escobar took ball one before three consecutive strikes.

“You just think, ‘We’ll get them next inning. We’ll get them next inning,’” Yost said. “But, man, there was no more getting them.”

From there, the Royals never challenged. A night after hard-fought at-bats against Mariners ace Felix Hernandez, they capitulated to the will of Montgomery.

“We strike out 10 times, then the guy threw the ball pretty (darn) good,” Yost said.

Mariners 7, Royals 0

TableStyle: SPORT-BBX_WIDETEAMS2CCI Template:

E—Morrison (2), B.Miller (8). DP—Seattle 1. LOB—Kansas City 6, Seattle 8. 2B—Cano (19), Ackley (6). HR—Morrison (9), Ackley (5). TableStyle: SPORT-BBX_WIDETEAMS3CCI Template:

HBP—by Montgomery (L.Cain). WP—Hochevar.

Umpires—Home, Greg Gibson;First, Chris Segal;Second, Pat Hoberg;Third, Marvin Hudson.

Time: 2:23. Attendance: 17,460 (47,574).

This story was originally published June 23, 2015 at 11:47 PM with the headline "Former KC prospect, pitching for Mariners, dominates Royals in 7-0 shutout."