DETROIT -- It was only 11 months ago that left-hander Mason Montgomery was moved out of Triple-A Durham’s rotation and began embracing life as a hard-throwing reliever.
As easy as he made it look down the stretch last year, this season has not gone so smoothly for Montgomery. That led the Rays to option a key part of their bullpen to Triple-A before Monday night’s 5-1 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park, replacing him with multi-inning right-hander Mason Englert.
Montgomery, 25, put together a 5.74 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP in 31 1/3 innings over 40 appearances for Tampa Bay this season. He still displayed impressive stuff, with 97th-percentile fastball velocity, a 95th-percentile whiff rate and a 28.5 percent strikeout rate. But walks and home runs were an issue, and he struggled to get on a consistent run out of a Rays bullpen that’s now going through its toughest stretch of the season.
“Tough decision, for sure, but feel like we need Mason to be good for us,” manager Kevin Cash said Monday afternoon. “We kind of gave him that message: ‘Get down there, find a routine, work on some mechanical adjustments, some mindset adjustments.’
“I mean, let's not forget that this is a guy that has started a long time. He was still new to the bullpen role, relief role, but he took to it so well last year, and even at [times] this year. We feel like this will give him a little bit of a blow.”
Montgomery isn’t the only Rays reliever who has struggled at times this season, of course. Setup man Edwin Uceta has a 5.45 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in 39 appearances after his breakout 2024 campaign. And the bullpen cost the team back-to-back games in Minnesota over the weekend, surrendering late leads both Friday and Saturday.
After starter Shane Baz held the Tigers to three runs in six innings on Monday, rookie reliever Paul Gervase gave up a pair of solo homers in the seventh inning, turning a two-run deficit into a four-run gap that was insurmountable for a lineup limited to five hits and two walks.
Tampa Bay’s bullpen has now allowed multiple runs in five straight games and eight of the past 10, an uncharacteristic stretch for the club. It’s likely no coincidence that the Rays have dropped seven of those 10 games amid what outfielder Josh Lowe called “a little skid” approaching the All-Star break.
“I think it’s just [the bullpen] going through it. Everybody in this room has all the faith in the world in the bullpen,” catcher Danny Jansen said. “Guys are going to continue to pick each other up down there. They’ve been doing it all year. They’ve been picking us up all year. Little bit of a skid, but not thinking too much of it.”
It seems like a potential area for the Rays to address leading up to the July 31 Trade Deadline, although they should get an upgrade relatively soon as high-leverage reliever Manuel Rodríguez works his way back from a right forearm strain.
And they would be hard-pressed to find an arm with the upside of Montgomery, if he can harness the electric stuff he has shown at times, making what comes next for the lefty all the more important.
“He needs to feel some good results, I think. Mentally, it's been trying,” Cash said. “A lot of messaging going back and forth, but we need him back up here soon, hopefully.”
In the meantime, the Rays called up Englert -- a former Tiger -- for his third stint with the team. The right-hander can pitch in a variety of roles, working multiple innings or potentially being available for shorter stints in back-to-back games.
That flexibility could come in handy with six spots in the rotation technically occupied by starters. The Rays should move forward for the time being with Joe Boyle “piggybacking” with Drew Rasmussen, as they did successfully in Sunday’s series finale against the Twins.
Tampa Bay wound up having to use its bullpen more than expected in the 7-5, 10-inning win on Sunday, but the arrangement with Rasmussen and Boyle allowed the club to cover seven innings, lessening the load on its bullpen.
“Credit Joe Boyle. For the most part, the way the game at that point [was] when he came out, we were feeling pretty good that we were gonna have to go to the bullpen that much,” Cash said. “We ended up needing to, because of the way they tied it up and everything. But if we're going to bank seven, eight innings from those two, that helps a lot.”