On Saturday June 6th the Red Sox and Yankees were scheduled to play the middle game of a weekend series. Boston won the opener on Friday night putting their record at 27-35. New York was sitting at 37-26. Aaron Judge was on the IL and the forecast showed a chance of rain. So they punted to August, no doubt assuming Judge would be back and Boston was easier to kick around with their captain in the lineup. Fast forward two-and-a-half months and Judge has not returned. The Yankees don’t really score
runs (but they have good pitching, sigh) and that game against Boston isn’t looking like an easy win anymore. In fact, they probably are wish they’d played it back in June! Not that the Red Sox are guaranteed to win the makeup game, but which version of this team would you rather face: early June or late August?
Patrick Sandoval bounced back from a rough outing against the Pirates to hold the Giants to just 2 runs over 5.2 innings. And each run was score via a solo shot. He had 6 strikeouts and allowed 5 of the Giants 8 hits on the day. He’s probably not seeing much action – if any – as part of potential postseason games. He’s the number five starter and the Sox are, mostly, looking for innings. He can usually hang around for 5.0 while keeping the Sox in the game. The Yankees aren’t the same team they were with Judge and Stanton. They’ll be sending their ace against the Sox back end guy though. Opting to have Schlittler skip the Astros and face the Red Sox shows how nervous the Yankees are about that first Wild Card and a home series. The last time he faced Boston they roughed him up, scaled to a Cy Young favorite of course. That would be 4 runs in 5.0 innings. Schlittler has given up 5 runs once and had a 4-run, 3.0 inning outing against the Cardinals on 8/3. He’s been good, there’s no question. Schlittler is at 158 innings this season and threw 149 across the majors and minors last year. So technically we’re entering some uncharted ground. Maybe he’s out of gas?
Speaking of out of gas, Jake Bennett starts the afternoon game in the day-night doubleheader. Bennett got off to a a bad start against San Francisco but quickly settled down with a few single-digit pitch innings. He faced the Yankees during the Big Sweep Weekend in June. That time out he went 6.1 innings while allowing 1 run and striking out 3. He’s definitely fallen off a little since the end of July, but after shaking off the rust from a long time between starts looked like the Bennett who was cruising earlier this year. The Yankees don’t have a starter listed for the afternoon.
And neither team has anyone listed for the evening. Although Brayan Bello will be well rested. Could he start? Could he do a little more bulk relief?
Sunday’s starters are known though. Ranger Suarez had a mixed outing. He reached 93 pitches again, which, is something for getting stretched out. But it was over just 5.0 innings. And he both walked and struck out 4 batters. Though he didn’t fall apart – just one runner scored. He faced New York twice this year.In April he allowed runs in 4.2 innings. His just start, the Sunday game after that rain out, was a near miss for the struggle Sox. Suarez allowed just one run, however the bullpen gave up 5 runs in the 8th inning to change the entire course of the day. Will Warren has a 5.89 ERA / 6.41 FIP in August through four starts. He’s faced the Cardinals, Mariners, Orioles, and Astros so a mix of offensive profiles. Boston hit him hard for 5 on June 26th.
Ben Rice is up to 35 home runs.
Cody Bellinger is back from the IL, though Judge and Stanton are still out.
Roman Anthony and Trevor Story won’t be with the team for Friday’s game, but could make their returns some time this weekend.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday, August 28: Patrick Sandoval (4.54 ERA / 4.09 FIP) vs. Cam Schlittler (2.16 ERA / 2.61 FIP)
Saturday, August 29 (1): Jake Bennett (3.49 ERA / 3.31 FIP) vs. TBD (— ERA / — FIP)
Saturday, August 29 (2): TBD (— ERA / — FIP) vs. TBD (— ERA / — FIP)
Sunday, August 30: Ranger Suarez (3.35 ERA / 2.97 FIP) vs. Will Warren (4.39 ERA / 4.30 FIP)
When/Where to Watch
Friday, August 28: 7:15 PM ET on AppleTV
Saturday, August 29(1): 1:05 PM ET on NESN
Saturday, August 29 (2): 7:15 PM ET on FOX
Sunday, August 30: 1:35 PM ET on NESN
