It’s been a series full of nailbiters, but at least the Yankees have come out on the right side of a pair of one-run games in this set with the Guardians. With a getaway day today, we have a matinee affair for you that will hopefully be a little more of a laugher than we’ve seen this week, but a pair of low-ERA lefties might mean we’re doomed to another tight one.
Carlos Rodón has looked more than serviceable in his five starts already this year, with a 2.88 ERA and 3.08 xERA that suggest he’s not
just suppressing runs but suppressing good contact as well. However, there are a couple of yellow flags to note. First of all, he has a very elevated walk rate, over 15 percent of batters faced. He did walk five in his return start against the Brewers, but has only issued two or fewer free passes in one outing this year, and being able to control the strike zone will be an early key to his effectiveness. He’s also running a pretty paltry HR rate that will begin to normalize eventually, and while this Guardians squad won’t bludgeon you to death, they have a couple guys that can get some good swings off.
Parker Messick is playing in his first full season and a lot of the things we just said about Rodón could probably be said here, even if it appears Messick’s error bars are for the time being narrower than his veteran counterpart. He’s walking guys about doubly as often as last year, but with a more normal home run rate. Regardless, the two southpaws feature FIPs within .15 points of each other, so we’re dealing with two pretty similar looking seasons so far.
We see the Full Lefty lineup deployed once again, with Paul Goldschmidt leading off, but given the half-day off while DH’ing, Amed Rosario cleaning up, and Ali Sánchez batting ninth and catching. The platoon advantage is there for Sánchez of course (and it’s a day game after a night game), but after the game J.C. Escarra had, having the backup in was probably a good idea regardless of the starter.
How to watch
Location: Progressive Field — Cleveland, OH
First pitch: 1:10 pm ET
TV broadcast: YES, Guardians TV, WKYC3
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), WTAM 1100, WMMS 100.7, WARF 1350, Guardians Radio Network (CLE)
Online stream: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv (out-of-market only)
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