Montas makes triumphant return to New York as Reds beat Yankees 8-4 to complete 3-game sweep

NEW YORK (AP) — Frankie Montas made a triumphant return to Yankee Stadium, Nick Martini, Jonathan India and Spencer Steer homered and the Cincinnati Reds completed a three-game sweep of reeling New York with an 8-4 victory Thursday.

“Everybody knows what I can do when I’m healthy,” Montas said.

Steer opened a 5-0 lead in the fifth inning with a three-run, opposite-field homer to right off Marcus Stroman (7-4). Jake Fraley boosted the advantage to 8-2 with a bases-loaded triple in the seventh against Jake Cousins as Cincinnati (42-45) became the first NL team to sweep a regular-season interleague series in the Bronx.

New York (54-35) has lost 13 of 17 games and 14 of 19 after a 49-21 start.

“You go back at all the past World Series champions, they’ve always hit a little skid at some point,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “That's what kind of defines a team is how we respond out of this.”

Montas (4-6) ended a four-start winless streak, taking a shutout into the fifth and allowing two runs, four hits and three walks in five-plus innings.

New York's Ben Rice, moved into the leadoff spot 15 games into his major league career, hit his first big league homer with a 407-foot drive into the Judge's Chambers in the right-field seats in the fifth. The ball was caught by the VanDerVolgen family from the Albany area, a group of six that had been upgraded from the second deck just before the game. They exchanged the home run ball for balls Rice autographed in the clubhouse.

Rice had fantasized about what the home run would be like.

“It’s way cooler to actually do it than just dream about it,” he said.

Austin Wells homered leading off the fifth and Juan Soto added his 21st homer, a two-run drive against Nick Martinez in the seventh.

A 31-year-old right-hander, Montas had an unsuccessful stint with the Yankees. Acquired from Oakland at the 2022 trade deadline, Montas struggled to a 6.35 ERA over eight starts in a season cut short by right shoulder inflammation. He had surgery to repair the labrum on Feb. 15 last year and made his only appearance of the season on the final weekend.

Montas became a free agent, signed a one-year deal with the Reds that guaranteed $16 million and became their opening-day starter. Backup catcher Luke Maile was behind the plate for his eighth straight start.

Stroman gave up five runs and five hits in five innings.

Will Benson made a leaping catch with his glove at the top of the center-field wall in the first to rob Soto, who had gone into a home run trot.

Martini put the Reds ahead in the second when he drove a cutter off the top of the wall in right-center and into the Yankees bullpen for his fifth home run this season. India, who had three hits after starting the series 0 for 7, put a sinker over the center of the plate into the left-field seats in the third. Steer added his three-run shot in the fifth.

After the Yankees closed to 5-2, shortstop Elly De La Cruz made a fine sidearm throw to get Alex Verdugo at the plate trying to score on Anthony Volpe's sixth-inning grounder.

Before the game, the Yankees marked the 85th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's farewell speech by showing a video clip that included current players reading his words. Five people afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease were on the field near home plate, including Major League Baseball's Sarah Langs.

Reds catcher Austin Wynns cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Louisville.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Yankees: INF Jon Berti (strained left calf) will accompany the team on its upcoming trip, remain at the minor league facility in Tampa, Florida, and could be ready for a rehab assignment around the time of the All-Star break. ... RHP Scott Effross (Tommy John surgery) pitched a hitless inning with a walk and a strikeout for Triple-A Scranton/Wikes-Barre on Wednesday night in his fifth rehab outing.

UP NEXT

Reds: RHP Carson Spiers (2-1, 3.11 ERA) will be on the mound for Friday's homestand opener against Detroit RHP Reese Olson (2-8, 3.32).

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (4-7, 3.51 ERA) starts Friday night's series opener against Boston RHP Tanner Houck (7-6, 2.67).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Sarah Langs, an MLB sports writer, smiles as she is honored before the game between the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Yankees' Alex Verdugo celebrates hitting a double during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Yankees' Ben Rice celebrates in the dugout after hitting a home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Yankees' Ben Rice celebrates hitting a home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz smiles on first base after walking during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Spencer Steer runs to tag out New York Yankees' Aaron Judge at first base during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Cincinnati Reds' Spencer Steer runs to first base after hitting a home run, scoring teammates Jonathan India and Elly De La Cruz, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Cincinnati Reds' Jake Fraley, right, steals second base as New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres attempts to tag him out during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Cincinnati Reds' Jonathan India celebrates hitting a home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz, left, and Jake Fraley, right, celebrate after winning a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Frankie Montas throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — The outer bands of Beryl brought rain and intensifying winds to Texas on Sunday as coastal residents boarded up windows, left beach towns under evacuation orders and braced for the tropical storm that forecasters expected to strengthen back into a hurricane before landfall.

Much of Texas' shoreline was under a hurricane warning and landfall was expected early Monday. Officials in several coastal counties urged tourists along the beach for the Fourth of the July holiday to leave.

The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. The storm ripped doors, windows and roofs off homes with devastating winds and storm surge fueled by the Atlantic’s record warmth.

“We're seeing the outer bands of Beryl approach the Texas coast now and the weather should be going downhill especially this afternoon and evening," Eric Blake, a senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, said Sunday morning. “People should definitely be in their safe space by nightfall and we're expecting the hurricane to make landfall somewhere in the middle Texas coast overnight.”

Beryl would be the 10th hurricane to hit Texas in July since 1851 and the fourth in the last 25 years, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Three times in its one week of life, Beryl has gained 35 mph in wind speed in 24 hours or less, the official weather service definition of rapid intensification.

Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm shows the literal hot water of the Atlantic and Caribbean, and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the rest of the storm season, experts said.

Texas officials warned people along the entire coastline to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind. The hurricane warning extended fom Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston.

In Corpus Christi, officials asked visitors to cut their trips short and return home early if possible. Residents were advised to secure homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to guard against possible flooding.

Traffic was nonstop for the past three days at an Ace Hardware in the city as customers bought tarps, rope, duct tape, sandbags and generators, employee Elizabeth Landry said Saturday.

“They’re just worried about the wind, the rain,” she said. “They’re wanting to prepare just in case.”

Ben Koutsoumbaris, general manager of Island Market on Corpus Christi’s Padre Island, said there has been “definitely a lot of buzz about the incoming storm,” with customers stocking up on food and drinks, particularly meat and beer.

The White House said Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had sent emergency responders, search-and-rescue teams, bottled water, and other resources along the coast.

Some coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas that are prone to flooding, banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the Fourth of July holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks. In Refugio County, north of Corpus Christi, officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for its 6,700 residents.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is traveling in Taiwan, issued a preemptive disaster declaration for 121 counties.

Beryl earlier this week battered Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

Before hitting Mexico, Beryl wrought destruction in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados. Three people were reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.

In 2017 Hurricane Harvey lashed a wide swath of the Gulf Coast with strong winds and torrential rain from the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade, sending tens of thousands of residents fleeing the Gulf Coast.

The storm threatened oil refineries, chemical plants and dangerously flood-prone Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.

Lozano reported from Houston. Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, and radio reporter Julie Walker in New York contributed.

A message for Beryl is left on a boarded up business, Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Rock Port, Texas, as the hurricane moves closer to the Texas coast. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A sign notifies motorists to prepare for Hurricane Beryl, Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Portland, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Visitors crowd the beaches in Port Aransas, Texas, ahead of Hurricane Beryl's arrival, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

An oil tanker heads out and visitors crowd the beaches in Port Aransas, Texas, ahead of Hurricane Beryl's arrival, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Visitors crowd the beaches, Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Port Aransas, Texas, ahead of Hurricane Beryl's arrival. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

An oil tanker heads out to open water as surfers take advantage of waves ahead of Hurricane Beryl's arrival in Port Aransas, Texas, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A surfer passes under a pier after spending time in the water ahead of Beryl's arrival, Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Port Aransas, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

An oil tanker heads out to open water as a surfer takes advantage of waves ahead of Hurricane Beryl's arrival in Port Aransas, Texas, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A group plays on the beach ahead of Beryl's arrival, Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Port Aransas, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Shoppers exit a souvenir shop as Beryl advances towards the Texas coast, Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Port Aransas, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Visitors pass a restaurant closed in advance of Beryl, Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Port Aransas, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)