After getting blown out in the two opening games of the Tigers’ series, the Yankees returned the favor in the finale. Led by two home runs from Aaron Judge, the Yankees cruised past Detroit to end that set on a good note, ahead of yet another big series.
Starting tonight, the Yankees will start the fourth of their quartet of matchups against potential playoff opponents as they open a series against the Red Sox. Boston has had their number most of this year, but the Yankees can erase those bad memories
with a couple wins this weekend. With the Yankees and Red Sox very close to each other in the standings, a couple wins either way could bring a big swing in the standings. Losses for either team would hardly end their hopes, but neither teams will be happy with a series loss this weekend.
Ahead of tonight’s opener, here are the expected pitching matchups for the next couple days.
Friday: TBD vs. Lucas Giolito (7:10 p.m. ET)
At time of writing, the Yankees haven’t officially announced any of their starters for this weekend, hence the TBDs, but everyone in the rotation would be on normal rest, so at this stage, I’m just assuming the rotation order will continue as normal. That would mean Luis Gil would get the ball for tonight. Following a poor return from injury in his season debut, Gil has been strong since, posting a 2.25 ERA in the six games since. The one real negative that’s come out of his season so far has been his walks, dragging his FIP over that same time to 4.05. He can’t afford to do that in this game, as Boston has one of the higher team batting averages on the season, so the last thing you would want to do against them is needlessly put extra runners on.
After a slow start to the season, Giolito’s been pretty good since the start of June, but he’s been even better since the start of August, with a 2.53 ERA in that time. He has mostly avoided the Yankees this season, though, as their August 21st matchup was their first of the season. The Yankees’ offense managed to knock him out after 4.2 innings that day, but they failed to fully take advantage of the five hits and three walks he allowed.
Saturday: TBD vs. Brayan Bello (4:10 p.m. ET)
Again, nothing official yet, but if the normal rotation order holds, Max Fried would go in this game. It was a game against the Red Sox that began his recent run of good starts, as he has a 1.67 ERA and a 2.62 FIP since August 22nd. That began with six shutout innings against Boston that day, which included a mound visit with a squirrel that has clearly helped him.
However, the Yankees lost that game, because they could do absolutely nothing against Bello. The offense managed just three hits off Bello in seven innings, none of which went for extra bases. In 14 innings against Bello this season, the Yankees have yet to score and have struck out 13 times, so they might want to change that.
Sunday: TBD vs. Garrett Crochet (7:10 p.m. ET)
The normal rotation order would lead to Will Warren starting the series finale. Warren has a sub-3.00 ERA dating back to the start of August, although one bad start in that time came against the Red Sox. Boston has hit him pretty hard in general this year, scoring nine runs in 9.1 innings off Warren.
Crochet was already a good pitcher, but he’s been very dominant of late, striking out 63 batters in 50 innings over his last eight games. With 27 in 21.1 innings, the Yankees have been the worst of any teams this season in striking out against Crochet.
