MILWAUKEE — Frankie Montas’ time with the Yankees has gotten off to a rough start and it’s getting worse.
Montas said Saturday he is headed to get an MRI on his right shoulder after feeling discomfort in the area after his outing on Friday against the Brewers, when he allowed four runs in 3 ⅓ innings.
Montas missed time in July with right shoulder inflammation and was still being built back up when the Yankees traded for him before the deadline.
In eight starts with the Yankees, Montas has an ERA of 6.35.
He told The Post before leaving the ballpark on Saturday he didn’t think this injury was as bad as his previous injury.
Montas is optimistic about being able to make his next start.
Whether that happens likely depends on the results of the MRI.
Frankie Montas will get an MRI on his right shoulder. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostIn 39 ⅔ innings with the Yankees, the 29-year-old Montas has given up more hits and walks and struck out fewer batters than he did with the A’s.
“I haven’t pitched like I can pitch and know I’m capable of doing,’’ Montas said after Friday’s start. “I want to show what I can do in the playoffs.”
The Yankees have about three weeks to get Montas right.
“His command isn’t there right now,’’ one AL scout said. “Without that, this is what’s gonna happen.”
On Friday, Montas said both his split-fingered fastball and sinker were ineffective.
Outside of five shutout innings against Tampa Bay on Sept. 4, Montas has been mediocre at best.
Aaron Boone made it clear the Yankees are not considering moving Montas out of the rotation, but Domingo German could be an alternative if the team chooses to go that route, with Luis Severino scheduled to start Wednesday’s game in The Bronx following his rehab from a strained lat that has sidelined him since mid-July.
Asked about Montas’ ability to regain the form he showed in Oakland this season, when he became perhaps the most sought-after starting pitcher on the trade market following Luis Castillo’s move from Cincinnati to Seattle, Boone said he was confident Montas would be able to figure it out.
“We need him to,’’ Boone said Friday. “We’ve got to get him moving in a good direction [to get] momentum… We’ve got to keep working at it. He can be a difference-maker when he’s going well.”
Frankie Montas has struggled since joining the Yankees at the deadline. APBut that difference-making ability hasn’t always been on display.
He pitched well with the A’s last season, finishing with a career-high 187 innings.
Montas struggled for much of the shortened 2020 season, his first after he was suspended for testing positive for a banned substance, violating MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
And he’s rarely been more ineffective than he was on Friday, when Montas was staked to a 5-0 lead after the Yankees scored three runs in the first and two more in the second.
He was off from the start, although he survived a 27-pitch first inning without being scored upon.
But Willy Adames hit a three-run homer off him in the bottom of the second and he gave up two more runs in the third.
Compare Montas’ early results with the Yankees to Gray’s and Montas comes up short.
For all his troubles with the Yankees, Gray actually pitched fairly well for them early in his tenure in 2017.
In 11 regular season starts following his trade from Oakland, Gray had an ERA of 3.72, not that much higher than the 3.43 mark he had with the A’s that year.
While his home run and walk rates went up with the Yankees that season, it wasn’t until a three-start stretch the following April that Gray began to unravel, when he allowed 14 runs in 11 innings.
The Yankees gave up three highly-regarded pitching prospects (JP Sears, Ken Waldichuck and Luis Medina), as well as minor league infielder Cooper Bowman in exchange for Montas and Lou Trivino, not just for this season, but for 2023, as well.
And they’ll have to hope for better results down the stretch for Montas to make that move worthwhile.
