TORONTO _ When the Yankees drafted Jordan Montgomery in the fourth round of the 2014 draft, it wasn't because he dazzled them with a high-90s fastball, wipeout slider or drop-off-the-table curveball.
The left-hander, though with a solid five-pitch repertoire, didn't have any of those.
But what he had, the club's amateur scouting director Damon Oppenheimer said in early April after the Yankees announced Montgomery as the fifth starter, was perhaps a pitcher's most important attribute.
"It was always the hitters didn't have a comfortable at-bat," Oppenheimer said, mentioning the deception in the 6-6 Montgomery's delivery and subsequent difficulty batters had in picking up the ball.
The Blue Jays certainly can attest.
The 24-year-old Montgomery, making his 10th career start, kept the Jays completely off balance over six shutout innings of a 7-0 victory Saturday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd of 47,226 at Rogers Centre.
The Yankees (32-21) opened up a relatively close game late, belting four home runs off Jason Grilli in the eighth inning. Brett Gardner hit his 12th and, after consecutive outs, Matt Holliday (also No. 12), Starlin Castro (No. 9) and Didi Gregorius (No. 4) went back-to-back-to-back to make it 7-0.
Blue Jays right-hander Joe Biagini allowed three runs (one earned) and four hits over seven innings, setting the stage for the torch job by Grilli, who became the first Toronto reliever in franchise history to allow four homers in an inning.
The Blue Jays (27-29) finished with three hits, none after the fifth inning.
The Yankees had eight hits _ four doubles and four home runs.
Montgomery did experience some trouble early but successfully pitched out of it.
He walked Justin Smoak and Troy Tulowitzki back-to-back with one out in the second but got out of it as Devon Travis flied to the track in left and Darwin Barney flied to right, ending the 20-pitch inning.
The Yankees then gave Montgomery a lead in the third, with an error opening the door for two unearned runs. Rob Refsnyder, getting the start at first for the slumping Chris Carter, reached with one out when shortstop Tulowitzki flubbed a routine grounder. Refsnyder took third on Gardner's fly out to deep center and came in when Aaron Hicks blooped a 2-and-2 pitch down the right-field line for an RBI double. The hit improved the center fielder to 15 for his last 36. Aaron Judge then smoked a 0-and-2 cutter _ MLB Statcast measured the exit velocity at 116.2 mph _ off Pillar's glove in center, the RBI double making it 2-0.
Montgomery escaped another jam in the bottom half.
Luke Maile led off with an infield single to third _ Chase Headley saved a double with a diving attempt _ and leadoff man Pillar singled to right. Josh Donaldson, who homered twice Friday night, fouled out to Austin Romine and Jose Bautista struck out on a curveball in the dirt. Montgomery struck out Morales on a slider in the dirt to end the inning. Through three innings, Montgomery held the Blue Jays to 0 for 5 with RISP, stranding four.
Overall the Blue Jays were 0 for 7 with RISP and stranded seven.
