Montgomery has scoreless outing, but Yankees still lose to Boston 5-4

The New York Yankees finally scored a run with starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery on the mound, but it was just one, and the Yankees wasted a scoreless outing by the Sumterite against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday at Fenway Park in Boston.
The left-handed Montgomery shut out Boston for 5 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out six. Montgomery left the game with a 1-0 lead, but the New York bullpen coughed up three leads as the Red Sox rallied for a 5-4 win.
Montgomery did have a streak of losses in four straight starts snapped as his win-loss record remained at 3-5. He also had another streak snapped, but one that was more of a condemnation of the Yankees offense while he is toeing the rubber.
New York had failed to score while Montgomery was in the lineup in his five previous starts. The one run the Yankees scored in the fourth left Montgomery tied with Bill Short in 1960 and Fritz Peterson in 1967 for the longest such streak in franchise history, according to STATS.
The most recent scoreless game came last week in a 4-0 loss to Boston. Montgomery pitched 3-run ball over six innings with three hits allowed, two walks and four strikeouts in that outing.
"I'm just doing my job," Montgomery said following that game in New York. "Going out there, focusing on hitters, trying to get outs and keep us in it. I'm going to keep being a good teammate and supporting the hitters."
Montgomery hasn't missed his turn in the Yankee rotation this year, having made all 19 of his starts. Montgomery's earned run average dropped to 3.96 with his shutout performance on Thursday. He has worked 104 2/3 innings, allowing 92 hits and 31 walks for a walk/hit-to-innings-pitched ratio of 1.175. He has 105 strikeouts.
Kiké Hernández hit a 2-run double that tied the game with two outs in the ninth inning, and Boston took advantage of a record four wild pitches by reliever Brooks Kriske in the 10th to rally for the win.
Xander Bogaerts scored on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Renfroe in the 10th to win the opener of a 4-game series. The victory was Boston's third straight and snapped New York's 4-game winning streak.
Boston also remained one game up on Tampa Bay in the AL East. The third-place Yankees, who have lost eight of 10 to the Red Sox this season, are eight games back.
Matt Barnes (5-2), the sixth Red Sox pitcher of the night, gave up a run in the 10th but got the win. Kriske (1-1) allowed Boston's final two runs for a blown save, becoming the first major leaguer to throw four wild pitches in a single extra inning, according to STATS.
All of them came on splitters that bounced.
"It was just pure execution," said Kriske, optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the loss. "It's part of the game. I've got to do a better job."
New York took a 4-3 lead in the 10th on a sacrifice fly by Brett Gardner that scored Tyler Wade.
New York took a 3-1 lead into the ninth. But after striking out Christian Vázquez for the first out, right-hander Chad Green gave up back-to-back singles to Alex Verdugo and Bobby Dalbec. One out later, Hernández tied the game when his double to deep left-center scored Verdugo and pinch-runner Jarren Duran.
The Red Sox came in having totaled 20 runs in back-to-back wins over the Blue Jays. But they were kept at bay early by Montgomery.
The Yankees also might have been aided by a 55-minute
New York took a 1-0 lead into the seventh when Boston loaded the bases for Hernández with one out after Wade mishandled Michael Chavis' hard grounder to third.
Hernández popped out to short center, but it was enough for Verdugo to beat Estevan Florial's throw home with a headfirst slide to tie the game.