I don’t know about you, but when I saw the pitching matchup that was scheduled for Sunday’s series finale between the Yankees and Padres, I couldn’t help but smile. Not only will Gerrit Cole be starting on the hill for the Bombers, but he’ll be facing a former teammate, mentee, and close friend in Michael King. That sounds like a great way to spend the back half of the weekend.
The Yankees gave a good cushion to Carlos Rodón, and despite an early jam, he rallied to complete five quality innings. The bullpen
entered lockdown mode from there, allowing one hit the rest of the way following Manny Machado’s homer. Cole will have the opportunity to add on to that brilliance while continuing his run of remarkable consistency dating back to June. Over his last 11 starts, Cole has refused to allow more than three runs in any of them. That steadiness has given the Yankees a nice extra bit of reliability as the pitching staff had dealt with its latest rash of injuries.
On the opposite end, King himself has also been in a groove. He’s working on a 15.2-inning scoreless streak, and posted a 2.21 ERA in August. With the exception of one start in Colorado on July 28th, he too has not allowed more than three earned runs. Yankees fans will remember his crossfire delivery which helps his stuff play up. He likes to pair the sinker with his frisbee sweeper which twists away from right-handed batters, then relies on his trusty changeup to deal with lefty hitters.
With that in mind, expect to see a lot of changeups.
Eight of the nine batters King will face this afternoon will face him from the left-side batter’s box, including the first six spots. George Lombard Jr. is the lone right-handed hitter; he’ll go seventh. Ben Rice will lead off ahead of Cody Bellinger and Luis García Jr. Spencer Jones has had an awesome series in his home county—he’ll clean up ahead of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the switch-hitting Jasson Domínguez. After Lombard, it’ll be Ryan McMahon and Austin Wells to round out the card.
How to watch
Location: Petco Park – San Diego, CA
First pitch: 4:10 pm ET
TV/Streaming: YES, Padres.TV
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 – NYY | KWFN 97.3, XEMO 860 – SD
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