NEW YORK — Jordan Montgomery took a shutout into the seventh inning for his first major league win, Matt Holliday homered in his return to the lineup and the New York Yankees romped to their eighth consecutive victory by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-4 on Monday night.
Holliday put the Yankees ahead with a titanic three-run shot in a five-run third inning, and Aaron Judge added a two-run homer that chased Derek Holland (1-2) with the score 7-0 in the fifth.
New York has rebounded from a 1-4 start with its longest winning streak since a 10-game run in June 2012.
Making his second career start, Montgomery (1-0) immediately found himself in a first-inning jam. But the 24-year-old lefty calmly pitched his way out of it by retiring cleanup hitter Jose Abreu and streaking Avisail Garcia with runners at second and third.
Garcia began the night leading the majors with a .465 batting average.
The 6-foot-6 Montgomery scattered four hits over the first six innings, but never got another out. He gave up consecutive singles to start the seventh and then a three-run homer to Yolmer Sanchez that ended his night.
Starlin Castro had three hits for New York, and Judge drove in three runs. Castro and Chase Headley hit successive doubles after Holliday’s homer into the bleachers beyond the left-center bullpen, estimated at 459 feet. The veteran slugger missed the previous two games with lower back stiffness.
Judge added a run-scoring single to complete the third-inning outburst for New York.
ASTROS 3, ANGELS 0: Charlie Morton and three relievers combined for a five-hitter, Jose Altuve drove in two runs and Houston won at home for a fifth straight win.
Morton (1-1) worked in and out of trouble over five innings, allowing five hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He had runners on in every inning, including stranding the bases loaded in the second when he got Ben Revere to fly out. Morton has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his three starts this season.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CARDINALS 2, PIRATES 1: Lance Lynn pitched seven shutout innings, Kolten Wong homered and St. Louis stopped a three-game losing streak with a win at home.
The Cardinals, who had lost 6 of 7, are 4-9 and still have the worst record in the NL. Pittsburgh had won three in a row.
BREWERS 6, CUBS 3: Eric Thames homered in his club record-tying fifth straight game as streaking Milwaukee won at Chicago.
Milwaukee never trailed after Thames hit an opposite-field homer to snap a 3-3 tie in the third inning. Jeromy Burnitz became the first and last Brewers player to homer in five straight games in August 1997.
BRAVES 5, PADRES 4: Dansby Swanson hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning as Atlanta, boosted by Freddie Freeman’s two home runs and double, beat San Diego for a four-game sweep in its first series at SunTrust Park.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.