Former Gamecock Jordan Montgomery has solid debut for Yankees

Former South Carolina pitcher Jordan Montgomery made his major league debut on Wednesday. The left-handed pitcher got the start for the New York Yankees in their game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The 24-year-old kept the Rays off balance with four pitches before tiring. He allowed three runs – two earned – and five hits in 4 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. He didn’t factor into the decision.

“I thought he pitched out of jams really well,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “For the first start I’m pretty pleased. There’s a lot of emotions that go into that.”

With his parents, Raury and Jim, on hand after driving up from South Carolina, the Sumter native threw 61 of 89 pitches for strikes – including 17 missed swings.

Montgomery, who beat out several pitchers to be the Yankees No. 5 starter, opened the first inning with strikeouts of Steven Souza Jr. and Kevin Kiermaier. He ran into trouble when he walked Evan Longoria and surrendered a long home run to Rickie Weeks.

In three seasons with the Gamecocks, Montgomery went 20-7 with a 2.87 ERA in 44 games. He struck out 212 and walked only 57. He was a fourth-round pick in the 2014 draft.

Montgomery was the 49^th South Carolina alum to make it to the majors.

Montgomery got to Yankee Stadium about four hours before the game, had a few cups of coffee and prepared for his major league debut.

To get the nerves out of his system, the 24-year-old visited the ballpark a day earlier and tossed a ball across the near-empty field to bullpen catcher Radley Haddad.

“I was kind of in the stadium by myself, just kind of look around with nobody in the seats,” the 6-foot-6 left-hander said. “Really take it in.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Former Gamecock Jordan Montgomery has solid debut for Yankees."