Montero pitched a clean ninth inning while striking out a hitter en route to his fourth save of the season in a 2-0 win over the Angels on Sunday.
Manager Scott Servais brought Kendall Graveman in for the eighth to face Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh so Montero got the call to close out the game instead. The 30-year-old needed just seven pitches to get three outs and struck out Albert Pujols in the process. It was a much-needed bounceback performance after he had allowed five runs (three earned) on five hits over his last 1.2 innings. Montero appears to still have the trust of his manager in late-game scenarios despite having a 4.15 ERA although he's still second-fiddle to Graveman in terms of save opportunities.