‘Terrific’ Montgomery lifts Rangers to Game 1 win
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Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff Writer
HOUSTON — Jordan Montgomery came up big in the Texas Rangers‘ biggest game of the year, continuing a personal scoreless streak, helping his club to preserve a perfect postseason and, just maybe, earning a new nickname in the process.
Montgomery outdueled future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander on Sunday, tossing 6⅓ scoreless innings in Texas’ 2-0 Game 1 victory over the defending champion Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. The gem was Montgomery’s second straight scoreless effort in the playoffs, as pitching remains the key to Texas’ startling 6-0 postseason mark.
“If [starting] doesn’t raise your game in the playoffs, I don’t think you’re doing it right,” Montgomery said. “Obviously, I was super excited to take the ball tonight. And anytime I can give my team a chance to win, I’ll do my best.”
The Rangers, the AL’s No. 5 seed, have opened each of their three playoffs series on the road and won every Game 1, becoming just the fourth team to accomplish the feat. The Texas staff has posted a 1.83 team ERA during the spree and recorded four quality starts, most of any postseason team, including two from Montgomery.
No one had a better vantage point of Montgomery’s mastery than Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, who singled, walked and drove in one of the Rangers’ two runs. It was Heim who might have given Montgomery a new moniker, calling him “Big Guy” as he threw his arms around the clutch lefty in the clubhouse.
“That was the first time [calling him that],” Heim said. “I don’t know where that came from. But it’s a good one.”
Montgomery carved up the Astros by mixing in curveballs, four-seam fastballs and a few changeups along with his trademark sinker, moving all of his offerings around the strike zone and just out of it. The vaunted Houston offense was off-balance all through Montgomery’s outing.
“Nothing’s straight, and nothing’s the same,” Heim said. “Same release point, ball gets on you, big guy. Sometimes, he steps on the brakes with his curveball, and other times, he rams in a four-seam on you. It makes my job easy.”
Montgomery had to be on his game because Verlander was proving to be almost as stingy against the high-scoring Texas offense, holding the Rangers to Heim’s RBI single in the second and a solo homer by Leody Taveras on a hanging Verlander slider in the fifth.
“Sometimes, you have to tip your hat,” Verlander said. “Jordan pitched incredibly well.”
With both Montgomery and Verlander throwing into the seventh inning, Game 1 had as close to an old-school pitching duel as you get in an era of quick hooks for starters. The contest was the first in this year’s playoffs in which both starters went six-plus innings.
“Both sides, great pitching,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “We just found a way to get a couple of runs across the board. That was the difference in the game, obviously. But our guy was really good, Monty; terrific job he did.”
Montgomery struck out six batters, getting Houston’s star slugger Yordan Alvarez for three of the whiffs. Montgomery threw 90 pitches and scattered five Houston singles. He said he felt like he had plenty left in the tank too when he was taken out of the game.
“I thought in the seventh that I had a little longer leash and that I would at least go until someone got on base or whatever, but obviously, [Bochy] pulled me,” Montgomery said. “I was trying to go as deep as I could.”
Montgomery had more than a little help from his defense, as well, with rookie left fielder Evan Carter making a leaping grab of an Alex Bregman liner in the first. Carter, 21, then made the play of the game by nabbing an eighth-inning Bregman drive against the fence in left-center, a play that resulted in a double play after Jose Altuve failed to retouch second base while retreating to first base.
“Our guys played well,” Bochy said. “Our defense was outstanding tonight. The kid, Carter, what a game he had out there.’
Carter also scored the first run of the game on Heim’s single after stretching a grounder that leaked into right field into a double.
“I’m just having fun. That’s what it’s all about,” Carter said. “We’re playing a game. And it’s a fun one too.”
Everyone on the Texas side of Minute Maid Park was having fun after the Rangers grabbed the series lead against their cross-state nemesis. But the Rangers also know that the Astros, playing in their seventh consecutive ALCS, are not going to be daunted by one two-run loss.
“We’ve lost Game 1 of some playoff series before,” Verlander said. “And that’s the great thing about this team. Obviously, nobody is sitting in the locker room right now happy. But it’s very matter-of-fact. OK, we just got punched. How do you answer?”
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Jesse Rogers
MILWAUKEE — Perhaps some divine intervention had a hand in the Brewers advancing to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2018 after they defeated the Cubs in Game 5 of the NL Division Series on Saturday night. More than once, general manager Matt Arnold said he looked “to the heavens” for some inspiration from Brewers icon Bob Uecker, who passed away last offseason.
“I kept saying, ‘Bob, we need you,'” Arnold said in the Brewers’ champagne-soaked clubhouse following the tense 3-1 win. “We know he’s with us.”
Arnold’s prayers were answered as Milwaukee hit three solo home runs while perfectly navigating its own bullpen game — just as the Cubs were attempting to do — holding Chicago to a solo home run. Midseason pickup Andrew Vaughn went deep again, while midseason call-up Jacob Misiorowski pitched the bulk of the game, going four innings and allowing just that one run.
Vaughn, in particular, felt the meaning of the moment more than most. Traded by the Chicago White Sox after a terrible start to his season, he found new life with the Brewers. He compiled a 1.126 OPS in the series, including two home runs.
“The journey has been kind of crazy,” Vaughn said. “But not taking anything for granted. The opportunity to be with this group, it’s changed my life.”
For Misiorowski, it was the first time in 17 appearances, dating back to the regular season, that he didn’t issue a walk. He gave up three hits and struck out three in a masterful performance.
“I think I was giving everything I’ve got,” he said. “And I think I left everything out there.”
The other four Brewers pitchers held the Cubs scoreless.
“It kind of went according to plan,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “But then, we saw [Aaron Ashby] was a little bit not as sharp as he could have been. It’s his fourth time seeing them. And then, Chad Patrick was maybe the player of the game because you don’t expect him to be that good, pitching an inning plus.”
Patrick relieved Ashby during a potential turning point in the sixth. With Milwaukee up 2-1, Ashby gave up a hit and then hit a batter, putting runners on first and second with no outs. But then he threw the pitch of the game, a nasty 98.6 mph fastball on the edge of the zone to Kyle Tucker, who swung and missed on a 3-2 count. Patrick entered next. He got Seiya Suzuki to fly out and caught Ian Happ looking. It was the last rally of the season for the Cubs.
“Ashby made a pretty darned good pitch, 3-2, to Tucker,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Looked like right down away on the corner. It was a nasty pitch. Seiya had a good at-bat against Patrick. … And then, they got out of it essentially.
“It’s really the only inning you could talk about. We just didn’t do much. We had six baserunners. You’re going to have to hit homers to have any runs scoring in scenarios like that.”
The win completed a back-and-forth series where the home team held serve throughout. The Brewers admitted the environment in Games 3 and 4 in Chicago got to them, allowing the Cubs to even the series after Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead. Would the Brewers give it away like they did in the wild-card round last year when New York Mets star Pete Alonso beat them with a late home run in the deciding game?
Longtime Brewers star Christian Yelich was asked what he learned from that heartbreaking experience.
“Just go at it fearless,” Yelich said during the postgame clubhouse party. “You can’t really lose them tougher than we did last year. So going into the night, you just play with a bunch of freedom. You know you’ve got belief and trust in your teammates that we’re going to be able to get the job done. That’s exactly what we’re able to do.”
The Brewers said all the right things about beating the Cubs, though it had to feel extra special taking down a big-market payroll and Milwaukee’s former manager, who left for greener pastures two years ago. As has become the norm since he took the job in Chicago, Counsell was booed every time he poked his head out of the dugout.
Milwaukee owner Mark Attanasio was asked if he had any doubts about his team continuing its winning ways after Counsell left the organization before the 2024 season.
“I believed in the process and the system and the people,” Attanasio said. “The Cubs were really good this year. It’s just a testament to this whole organization.”
In terms of big-market, high-payroll teams, the Cubs were just the appetizer. Next up for the Brewers are the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, who reside in the sport’s second-largest market and own the highest team payroll in the majors, more than $200 million ahead of the Brewers.
“It doesn’t get any more big market and small market than Brewers-Dodgers,” Yelich said with a smile. “We’re up against it. We know it. We love being in those situations. It’s fitting the season for us is going to come down to that series, that team and all that star power. You have the average Joes coming there. We’re going to do what we did all year, compete our asses off, go hard and see what happens.”
Attanasio added: “Let’s go! I can’t wait.”
The Brewers went 6-0 against the Dodgers in the regular season and have home-field advantage in the series, but they will be the decided underdogs. Uecker’s spirit might be needed now more than ever, as taking down the Dodgers despite everything that the Brewers have accomplished will be their toughest task yet.
“I’m grateful for the guys we’ve had in the room,” Murphy said. “They’ve been doubted every year. Everyone. There’s no one predicting the Brewers playing the Dodgers in the series.”
Arnold added: “We’ve been planning for this. You can’t just roll out of bed and play the Dodgers.”
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Jorge Castillo
Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette is not on the roster for the AL Championship Series vs. the Seattle Mariners.
Bichette has not played since spraining his left knee in a collision on Sept. 6. He ran for the first time Wednesday, hit live pitching Friday and appeared to be in some discomfort as he ran the bases for the first time Saturday.
Game 1 against the Mariners is scheduled for Sunday night at Rogers Centre.
Toronto’s offense did not falter without the 27-year-old Bichette in the AL Division Series. The Blue Jays scored 34 runs in the four games and pounded the New York Yankees‘ pitching for 23 runs in the first two contests at home. But Bichette was one of the team’s three best hitters during the regular season.
A free agent this winter, Bichette rebounded from a dreadful, injury-plagued 2024 season in which he posted a .598 OPS in 81 games to his previous All-Star-level form in his platform year. He batted .311 — tied for second in the AL — with 18 home runs, 94 RBIs and an .840 OPS in 139 games, though he was the worst defensive shortstop in the majors as measured by outs above average and defensive runs saved.
Andres Gimenez, previously the team’s starting second baseman, started at shortstop for the Blue Jays in their division series win over Yankees. Utilityman Ernie Clement also played shortstop for Toronto during the regular season after Bichette’s injury.
After carrying just three starters in the AL Division Series and deploying a bullpen game in Game 4, the Blue Jays are carrying both Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt — who finished the season on the injured list with back inflammation — on the ALCS roster as possible options for length. Both starters threw in a simulated game early in the week at Rogers Centre.
ESPN’s Jorge Castillo contributed to this report.
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