Royals’ Mike Montgomery has strong start, but a hiccup late
Kansas City Royals left-hander Mike Montgomery was cruising through his third spring training start until the end of his fourth and final inning.
Montgomery allowed two runs and four hits in four innings of a 4-4 tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks in a Cactus League contest on Monday afternoon at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. He struck out four, and both runs he allowed came on a Kole Calhoun two-run home run with two outs in the fourth.
“I felt like it went really well,” Montgomery said. “Definitely a step forward. I got up to (55) pitches, four innings. I really made some strides in-game, working on the curveball especially. It felt off a little bit this spring, so good improvement there. I thought the command was better.”
Three of Montgomery’s four strikeouts came in his final two innings and all three were swinging third strikes, including a strikeout of David Peralta before a swinging bunt allowed Christian Walker to reach on an infield single in the fourth.
Walker was aboard when Calhoun ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a two-run blast. Montgomery finished the inning with a strikeout of Jake Lamb.
“No, it was not where I wanted it,” Montgomery said of the pitch to Calhoun. “I was trying to go down and I left it up, but those are the little things in spring that you need to kind of have happen just to get you back in the mindset of really bearing down and you can’t take pitches off against these guys because they’re really good.”
Ryan O’Hearn, Kelvin Gutierrez and Kyle Isbel each hit home runs for the Royals. Isbel hit an inside-the-park homer on a ball that hit off the base of the wall in center field in the ninth inning.
Relief pitchers Greg Holland, Trevor Rosenthal and Josh Staumont each pitched scoreless innings. Staumont pitched around two hits and one walk.
“One of the things I really like was to watch Staumont get hit a little bit and not back off,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He just kept coming and pitched out of a real tough situation. That’s the first time I’ve seen him do that. To see these guys get into tough positions and still bring out their good stuff was great to see.”
Thinning the herd
The Royals reassigned left-handed pitcher Kris Bubic to minor league camp on Monday, one day after he started Sunday’s Cactus League game against the Chicago White Sox.
Bubic appeared in two Cactus League games and pitched 3 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs and five hits and struck out one in those two games. He faced 17 batters and did not walk any.
Bubic joins fellow talented and highly touted pitching prospects Daniel Lynch and Jackson Kowar in minor league camp. The Royals reassigned Lynch and Kowar on Saturday.
Pitching prospect Brady Singer, the last member of the foursome who are rooming together this spring, is set to start Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Indians. Singer earned the Pitcher of the Year award for Double-A Northwest Arkansas last season.
Boulevard tag team
Boulevard Brewing Company announced a collaboration with Royals Hunter Dozier and Whit Merrifield. As part of the partnership, Kansas City’s Charlie Hustle Clothing Co. has created “Two Hit Whit” and “Bull Dozier” T-shirts, available at Boulevard’s Tours & Recreation Center, Charlie Hustle’s Plaza store, and online at charliehustle.com and store.boulevard.com for $32 each. A portion of the proceeds going to the players’ charities of choice — Big Brothers Big Sisters for Dozier and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City for Merrifield.
Boulevard also announced a new limited release of a new beer called “Hustle Up!” The 100-calorie blonde ale went on sale in the Royals viewership area on Monday.
This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 7:05 PM.
