Sports
Frankie Montas flops as Yankees fall to Blue Jays in momentum-stopping loss
So much for momentum.
If the Yankees’ dramatic, extra-inning win over the Rays on Wednesday was a spark, another tough pitching performance from Frankie Montas promptly poured cold water on it Thursday.
Montas was tagged for six runs over six innings — including a five-run second inning — as the Yankees fell flat in a 9-2 loss to the Blue Jays to open a four-game series in The Bronx.
The offense that had shown signs of snapping out of its recent funk 24 hours earlier wasn’t much help, either, as Jose Berrios kept the Yankees in check across 6 ²/₃ innings. The Yankees went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
With their 13th loss in their last 17 games, the Yankees (73-46) saw their lead atop the AL East trimmed back to nine games over both the Blue Jays (63-54) and Rays.
“This is about us playing well — if we play well, that takes care of itself,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously we haven’t played well enough in the last 10 days. So I think it’s more just a rough patch of us not playing well. We have to play better. I don’t sit there and think about this lead. It’s about us handling our business.”
Throughout the Yankees’ recent offensive malaise, their starting pitching had quietly been strong — allowing three runs or fewer in each of its last nine games before Thursday with a 3.07 ERA. That changed on Thursday, though, as Montas struggled early in his Yankee Stadium debut and put his team in a 5-0 hole in the second inning.
In three starts since joining the Yankees from the Athletics at the trade deadline, Montas has given up 14 earned runs on 18 hits and six walks across 14 innings.
“I want to go out there and do my best,” Montas said. “This is not my best.”
Blue Jays leadoff man George Springer served as a thorn in the Yankees’ side, going 5-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
“He was in another world tonight,” Montas said.
Montas worked around Springer’s leadoff double in the first inning but ran into trouble in the second. Teoscar Hernandez singled and Matt Chapman doubled before Santiago Espinal grounded into a fielder’s choice that put the Blue Jays up 1-0.
With two outs, Montas made his costliest mistakes when he walked No. 9 hitter Whit Merrifield on four pitches. That turned the lineup over to Springer, who hit a bloop single to center field to make it 2-0.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then took a visit to the short porch, roping a three-run home run to push the Blue Jays’ lead to 5-0.
The Yankees chipped away at the deficit in the third inning, with Berrios’ throwing error on DJ LeMahieu’s infield single bringing in a run and Aaron Judge driving in another on a fielder’s choice to make it 5-2.
Oswaldo Cabrera later added a pair of hits, including a double for his first major league hit, but the Yankees let them go to waste.
“Still looking for that traction to really get it rolling,” Boone said. “The long ball hasn’t been there and that’s a big scoring component. I thought tonight was better than what we saw in that seven-game stretch where it was really tough. But we need to be better.”
The Blue Jays got to Montas for another run in the sixth inning to make it 6-2 before blowing the game open in the seventh with three runs off Albert Abreu, who has given up seven earned runs over his last 10 ²/₃ innings.
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The NBA’s longest win streak is finally over after the Knicks suffered their first loss in nine games on Wednesday. Expect New York to start a new streak Friday against a team it dominated the last time they faced off.
The Knicks were playing like the best team in basketball during their lengthy win streak, posting the league’s best net rating (+17.3) with six double-digit victories in that eight-game run. That included a 23-point beat-down of the Bulls exactly a week ago, when New York drained 17 3s and saw three players score at least 22 points in an easy win.
Knicks vs. Bulls (7:30 p.m. Eastern) prediction: Knicks -5.5 (Caesars Sportsbook)
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That game marked the worst offensive showing of the season for Chicago (91 points), which has struggled with chemistry and spacing issues all year long. The Bulls rank dead last in 3-point attempts per game (28.8) and third-worst in offensive rebounding rate (23.6%), which leaves very few easy scoring chances for one of the NBA’s worst offenses.
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It’s the opposite story for the Knicks, who boast three legitimate shot-creators and also rank among the league leaders in points in the paint. Julius Randle (31 points) relentlessly attacked this Chicago defense in their first meeting before allowing RJ Barrett (27 points) to lead the way in the second affair — his fourth of five straight games with at least 22 points.
I don’t see this Knicks attack slowing down against one of the league’s most inconsistent defenses. And until Zach LaVine returns to his All-Star form, I’m skeptical of the Bulls’ offense showing up on Friday, too.
Knicks vs. Bulls pick: Knicks -5.5 (Caesars Sportsbook)
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After starting the season 21-4-1, it looked like the New Jersey Devils were going to run away with the Metropolitan Division as one of the very best teams in the NHL.
Not only were the Devils cruising, but their underlying metrics were elite. New Jersey was the best 5-on-5 team through the first quarter of the season.
Three weeks and one six-game losing streak later, and the Devils have fallen back to earth and are now two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division.
The Devils were able to get off the schneid with a win over Florida on Wednesday, but the task doesn’t get any easier with the league-leading Boston Bruins in town.
New Jersey is a slight +102 home underdog against Boston starting at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and the NHL Network.
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Bruins vs. Devils prediction
Even though the Devils have struggled to get results over their last 10 contests, their underlying numbers don’t suggest there’s all that much wrong with how they’re playing. New Jersey isn’t posting the pace-setting numbers it did through Thanksgiving, but it’s still skating to the fifth-best expected goals rate and high-danger scoring chance rate in the league over its last 10 contests.
Those numbers should help ease any sense of panic that New Jersey could continue to fall back further into the pack as we head toward the New Year.
So if New Jersey is still tilting the ice in the right direction, what is the issue for the Devils?
For one thing, the Devs are struggling to find the back of the net like they did when they were rolling. New Jersey has scored just nine goals in its last five games, and four of those tallies came in a 4-2 victory over Florida on Wednesday. Over their last 10 games, the Devils rank 25th in the NHL with a 6.56% shooting percentage.
Additionally, the Devils are not getting the goaltending needed to stabilize them. New Jersey’s netminders were always thought to be the team’s biggest weakness, and that has started to show lately as the Devils rank 23rd in the NHL in 5-on-5 save percentage over the last 10 games.
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The Bruins, meanwhile, continue to roll. Boston is 7-1-2 over its last 10 contests and ranks third in the league over that span in expected goals rate and fourth in high-danger chance percentage. The Bruins pace the NHL with a +54 goal differential, which is 25 goals better than the team in second (Toronto).
But as impressive as Boston has been over its first 31 games of the season, the Bruins are playing on a back-to-back on Friday, while the Devils were off on Thursday night.
The Bruins are the better team in a vacuum, but this is a good buy-low spot on the Devils, who are still playing solid hockey but are just not getting the results.
Devils vs. Bruins pick
New Jersey Devils +102 (FanDuel)
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