The American League East has been a bit of a mess so far this year. The Yankees squandered a strong opening week, but the rest of the division has similarly alternated between dominance and disaster. Entering Tuesday night, everybody is within four games of .500. It’s a perfect time to sprinkle a little rivalry into this stew! The Bombers ship up to Boston following an offday for their first meeting of the year against the Red Sox.
While the Yankees did send the Red Sox packing in last year’s Wild
Card Series, the fact is they had trouble handling their AL East rivals last year—Boston was no exception. They took the season series over New York 9-4, including a three-game sweep at Fenway Park in June. The Yankees cannot afford to overlook their struggling but still dangerous opponent in this series. Luis Gil will be tasked with getting the Bombers off to a good start in enemy territory.
Gil’s second start of the year came on Jackie Robinson Day and was not overly impressive. He survived five innings but allowed three home runs to the Angels—three of the ten overall hard-hit baseballs he surrendered in that outing. His fastball velocity is still down from his rookie year, and it’s getting clobbered; all three Angel homers came against it. For what it’s worth, the Red Sox have struggled against heaters to begin the year, with a .318 wOBA against them which ranks 26th in the league. By comparison, the Halos are fifth in the league with a .375. His changeup and slider are excellent pitches, but they’re only truly deadly if hitters have to fear a healthy four-seamer, too. We’ll see how Boston handles high velocity tonight.
The precocious Connelly Early was impressive to start Wild Card Game 3, but fellow rookie Cam Schlittler outshone the Virginian southpaw en route to a dominant win that sent Boston home. Early pitched great early (sorry, expect a similar joke in the recap if he does so again) but a rocky fourth inning featuring some bad defense sent him into a tailspin. Early impressed during the spring and earned a spot into the rotation to begin the season; he hasn’t blinked since. He boasts an advanced repertoire for a rookie, with six different pitches which he uses in a largely east-west attack on opponents. That said, Statcast puts him down for a 5.25 ERA, far above his actual ERA of 2.29. Could some regression be coming for Early tonight?
The Yankees offense which crushed Kansas City’s pitching over the weekend largely did so against other lefties. Noah Cameron and Cole Ragans both got hit hard. Hopefully the Monday rest day didn’t cool off their lumber. With that in mind, who better than Amed Rosario to bat leadoff ahead of Aaron Judge? Ben Rice has looked undaunted by lefty pitching—he’s in there over Paul Goldschmidt tonight. Giancarlo Stanton will DH, then Cody Bellinger will play center field with Randal Grichuk manning left. Jazz Chisholm Jr., José Caballero, and Austin Wells round out the starting nine, and Trent Grisham will be available off the bench.
How to watch
Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY
First pitch: 6:45 pm ET
TV broadcast: YES (NYY) | NESN+ (BOS) | TBS (national)
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | WEEI 93.7, WESX 1230 AM, WCCM 1490 AM (BOS)
Streaming: MLB.tv, Gotham Sports App
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