The New York Yankees split a four-game series against Philadelphia Phillies this week, falling in the final game Thursday evening 5-4. With Aaron Boone sitting Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu, he decided to insert them into the lineup with the team’s final at-bats of the game. While Judge struck out, LeMahieu managed to get on base with two strikes on the board and representing the final out. Mike Tauchman, who was up next, singled to right field, giving the Yankees a glimmer of hope in what was a lost game earlier on. Luke Voit, one of the Yankees’ top sluggers, nearly missed a three-run homer to take the lead.
However, it wasn’t written in the stars. Starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery was tapped for the fourth game of the series. He was batted around a bit in his second start of the season. He lasted just four innings, allowing six hits, five earned runs, and striking out just two batters. His 95 total pitch count was a bit much for just four innings of starting play. The Yankees quickly had to move on to David Hale and Jonathan Holder to finish off the game.
Montgomery made a few interesting claims following the game, specifically regarding the Phillies taking a shady competitive advantage.
New York Yankees’ Jordan Montgomery claimed the Phillies were using their announcers to gain a competitive advantage:
“I heard yesterday that their announcers were being really loud mid-pitch during JA and other guys’ pitches and not doing the same for their team. It’s kinda messed up that they’re out there, but it is what it is.”
"I heard yesterday that their announcers were being really loud mid-pitch during JA and other guys' pitches and not doing the same for their team. It's kinda messed up that they're out there, but it is what it is."
– Jordan Montgomery on the noise the past two nights pic.twitter.com/HQgifVTdBl
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 7, 2020
Whether you categorize this as cheating or not, Montgomery felt the need to say something after the game. Clearly, it was affecting his ebb and flow while pitching, and apparently a similar circumstance occurred with JA Happ. It is possible this could have affected his consistency, but the Yankees’ offense simply wasn’t able to produce much anyway.
You could make the argument that the batters would be distracted by this too. It is certainly up for debate.
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