Cardinals show trade goal that went to the Yankees, which he missed

The St. Louis Cardinals faced a potential trade target, Frankie Montas, in Sunday’s game against the Yankees and gave him the deal.

MLB trade deadline rumors had the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees as potential suitors for former Oakland A. pitcher Frankie Montas.

While the Yankees eventually got him, the Cardinals on Sunday showed him what he could be missing out on for the rest of this season at Gateway City.

When the calendar changed to August, The Yankees made a deal with the A’s to bring Montas to the Bronx. New York was one of three teams reportedly on the hunt for Montas At the end of the hunt for his services, he joined the Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays.

However, Montas got a good look at the St. Louis lineup on Sunday when he took the mound at Busch Stadium against the Cardinals. In fact, it was too close for the new Yankees pitcher.

Cardinals thrash Frankie Montas in Yankees debut of one-time trade target

Montas gave up six runs in five hits and went to work three batters in just three innings as the Cardinals quickly took a 6-4 lead. The 29-year-old right-hander threw just 64 pitches before his Yankees debut was over.

It was another slice of a bad weekend for the Yankees and their memories of the trades they made to increase their chances of returning to the World Series for the first time since 2009. On Saturday, Jordan Montgomery traded from the Yankees to the Cardinals in exchange for outfielder Harrison Bader, returning to haunt his old team by earning the win over them in a 1-0 win in St. Louis by scoring twice spread over five innings.

Montas went into Sunday’s game with a 3.18 ERA/3.35 FIP/1.137 WHIP in 19 starts this season (all with Oakland). Montas had given up five runs on four separate occasions, but Sunday had marked him for six runs for the first time by an opposing team.

The timing of Monta’s scuffle on the mound couldn’t have been worse for the Yankees in a frustrated weekend series. It couldn’t have been better for the Cardinals, either, who sent Montas a not-so-subtle reminder of what could have been.