Former Blue Rock Mike Montgomery Saves Game Seven of World Series
Cleveland, OH - Chicago reliever Mike Montgomery was the only former Wilmington Blue Rock to participate in this season's World Series, but the lefthander certainly played a pivotal role. Montgomery entered the game with two outs in the 10th inning and the Cubs leading by a run. The potential tying tally was already on base, but Montgomery needed just two pitches to nail down his first save of the series, and end the Cubs' 108-year world championship drought.
"I don't even remember what I did," Montgomery said via Yahoo Sports. "I just knew the game was over. We had won and we were world champs. It's an incredible feeling. You can't replicate it anywhere else. This team deserves it. This city deserves it."
Montgomery appeared in five of the Fall Classic's seven games, allowing just one run on four hits over 4.2 innings pitched. In 11 total postseason outings Montgomery went 1-1 with one save, a 3.14 ERA, 11 strikeouts and seven walks.
He began the season with the Mariners, but was traded to the Cubs in exchange for Dan Vogelbach and Paul Blackburn on July 20. With Chicago, Montgomery went 1-1 with a 2.82 ERA in 17 games. He fanned 38 in 38.1 innings, splitting his time between the rotation (five starts) and the bullpen.
The 27-year-old California native spent time with the Rocks in 2009 and 2010. He went 4-1 with a 2.60 ERA in nine starts as a Blue Crewer in '09. He was a big part of Wilmington's second-half playoff push that saw the club reach Game Five of the Carolina League Northern Division Championship Series. The flame thrower so-impressed scouts that he was named a top-10 prospect in the Carolina League that season by Baseball America. He went 2-1 with a scant 1.09 ERA in just four starts with Wilmington a season later. Montgomery was so dominant he earned a promotion to Double-A within a month of Opening Day.
From there, injuries delayed the 2008 first-round pick's ascension to the majors. He was traded to the Rays along with Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi in exchange for Wade Davis and James Shields in 2012 and then again to the Mariners for Erasmo Ramirez in 2015. He made his Big League debut that season in Seattle, making 16 starts, while posting a 4-6 record and a 4.60 ERA.