ST. LOUIS — Finishing off a trip that included the high of one of their own throwing a perfect game, the Yankees spent 5 ²/₃ innings Sunday on the wrong end of a no-hit bid.
And while they did finally scratch across two hits and one unearned run against Jordan Montgomery, the left-hander still dominated his former team once again.
Montgomery out-dueled Gerrit Cole to lead the Cardinals to a 5-1 win over the Yankees in the rubber game of the series at Busch Stadium.
The loss left the Yankees (46-38) with a bad taste in their mouths as they flew home after going 3-3 on a road trip against a pair of last-place teams.
On a day when manager Aaron Boone was ejected in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Dan Merzel, the Yankees mustered just three hits.
Montgomery mostly cruised through 6 ²/₃ innings before the Cardinals (35-48) turned to their bullpen to finish off the game.
Cole did not have his best stuff Sunday but gave up only two runs across six solid innings.
Still, it was not enough.
The Yankees did not have a hit until Gleyber Torres sprayed a double the other way with two outs in the sixth inning.
They did not have a run until the seventh, when Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out but reached first on a passed ball and eventually came home to score on Jake Bauers’ two-out double that knocked Montgomery out of the game.
The Yankees had a chance to tie the score against another one of their former pitchers, right-hander Giovanny Gallegos (Luke Voit trade), and decided to pinch-hit Billy McKinney for Jose Trevino (with Anthony Rizzo on the bench).
But McKinney struck out on three pitches, all sliders, to end the threat.
This marked Montgomery’s second start against the Yankees since they traded him to the Cardinals last August.
The first came just four days after the trade as Montgomery delivered five shutout innings of two-hit ball in his Cardinals debut.
Cole escaped a jam in the first inning with some help from the Cardinals.
They put runners on first and second with no outs and Paul Goldschmidt at the plate, but attempted a double steal in which Trevino threw a runner out at third. Four pitches later, Cole was out of the inning unscathed.
But in the fourth inning, the Cardinals cashed in. Nolan Arenado led off with a double before Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker roped back-to-back singles for the 1-0 lead.
One out later, Andrew Knizner added an RBI single, though Cole avoided further damage by getting Tommy Edman to hit into an inning-ending double play.
The Cardinals added three insurance runs late off Jimmy Cordero, including a two-run homer by Brendan Donovan in the seventh inning.
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