Two veteran pitchers who waited all winter and into the spring to find new homes in free agency will square off on Friday as the Arizona Diamondbacks and the host San Francisco Giants continue their four-game series.
Jordan Montgomery is set to make his Diamondbacks debut when he opposes fellow left-hander Blake Snell.
Montgomery and Snell will be hard-pressed to match the effort produced by the Giants’ Logan Webb in the series opener on Thursday. The right-hander shut out Arizona on two hits over seven innings en route to a 5-0 victory.
Snell (0-2, 12.86 ERA), the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants on March 19, nine days before Montgomery joined the Diamondbacks on a one-year, $25 million contract.
Both pitchers, then represented by agent Scott Boras, had been expected to land lengthy deals on a free agent market.
Snell will be making his third start for the Giants. In his latest outing, he gave up seven runs on six hits and two walks in four innings as San Francisco lost 9-4 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
He is 5-1 with a 1.11 ERA in eight career starts against the Diamondbacks.
Montgomery split time between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers last season, going 10-11 with a 3.20 ERA in 32 starts. He went 3-1 with a 2.90 ERA in six postseason games (five starts) while helping lead Texas to the World Series championship.
He has faced the Giants twice in his career — both times last season — and is 0-1 with a 2.19 ERA.
Montgomery had a 10.57 ERA in 7 2/3 innings during two starts at Triple-A Reno this month while working his way into shape.
The veteran is in no hurry to reach midseason form.
“We planned it into my offseason program to kind of take the first month of what I usually would do and cut that in half, a little more focus on rest and recovery instead of building the arm back up,” Montgomery said. “I’m trusting in the back end that (my form) will get where it needs to get.”
Montgomery will have to deal with a Giants team that might be turning around its fortunes, having won two in a row for just the second time this season.
The winning streak is modest, Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski admitted, but it’s a start.
“Anytime you can get a win against a good team like that, especially in the division, it’s big,” said Yastrzemski, who had a two-run single in San Francisco’s victory on Thursday. “We’re just trying to play one game at a time. Move the line along. Hopefully, we can keep rolling.”
–Field Level Media