The Yankees continue their homestand this weekend after taking two of three games from the White Sox. Despite a sour ending on Thursday, it was a successful series, particularly for the Bombers offense, who scored double-digit runs in each of their victories. On Friday, they’ll welcome the Cincinnati Reds to town for three games of interleague action — though Cincy will be missing star shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who has been out with a hamstring strain since the start of June. Instead, they are led
on offense by rookie first baseman Sal Stewart (who leads the team with 14 doubles and homers apiece), veteran Nathaniel Lowe, and most surprisingly, JJ Bleday.
Once the No. 4 overall pick of the draft by the Marlins in 2019, Bleday has floated around in underwhelming obscurity since debuting in 2022. A scalding-hot August 2024 with the A’s marked his only real highlight, and he regressed last year, forced to settle for a one-year deal with the Reds. He’s instead outplayed a more famous Cincy addition on a one-year contract (Eugenio Suárez), hitting .265/.367/.572 with 13 homers and a 153 OPS+ in 45 games. Now, much of that was driven by a 1.018 OPS in an NL Player of the Month-winning May, but he’ll still be a lefty eyeing the Short Porch at Yankee Stadium.
The Reds come to the Bronx with a 35-38 record, last place in a competitive NL Central division. Despite being one of the more competitively stagnant franchises in the league (their last three postseason appearances have ended in Wild Card round defeats), the Reds have still found a way to win three of four series from the Yankees since the schedule was changed to have all 30 teams play each other in 2022. The Bombers, who have been cruising of late, will look to rectify that odd trend. All three games of the weekend set will be televised on YES.
Friday: Cam Schlittler vs. Rhett Lowder (7:05 pm ET)
We were briefly reminded at the beginning of the month that Cam Schlittler is mortal, but that was three starts ago, and the two he’s twirled since have been excellent. Even as he hasn’t possessed pinpoint command in those recent starts, batters simply can’t square him up consistently. The Reds’ lineup was already a bottom-10 team by wRC+, and again, they will be without will be without De La Cruz. The pressure will be on the likes of Bleday and Stewart to figure Schlittler out.
The tribulations of Rhett Lowder (and of much of the Reds’ young arms in general) serve as a good reminder that pitching is…hazardous. The long-haired righty—one of two first-round selections out of Wake Forest that the Yankees will face this weekend—had a nice six-start run in the bigs near the end of 2024, but missed the entire 2025 season with a succession of injuries. The seventh-overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft got hurt again this May with a shoulder injury, and returned after missing a full month. He only threw three innings in his return, but improved in his most recent start with 5.2 innings of one-run ball against the Diamondbacks.
Saturday: Will Warren vs. Andrew Abbott (1:35 pm ET)
Warren celebrated his 27th birthday a few days ago. I hope the rest of the rotation gave him some nice presents. If they did, maybe he’ll have a little extra in the tank for this last start. Warren’s last two starts have been a little on the messy side, as he failed to complete five innings in each of them. However, he didn’t allow his opponents to put together any crooked numbers, and as a result the Yankees have won each of the last six games he has started. In fact, they’ve only dropped two games Warren has started all season!
For a Cincinnati team with tons of roster tumult and turnover from year to year, Andrew Abbott has been their most consistent face in the starting rotation. Since debuting in 2023, the 27-year-old lefthander has pitched to a 3.50 ERA in almost 500 career innings. He should get close to that milestone on Saturday night. Abbott hasn’t pitched quite as well this year as he did in 2025, when he made the All-Star team. The numbers have shown a higher susceptibility to walks and hard contact as well as a dip in strikeouts.
Sunday: Gerrit Cole vs. Chase Burns (1:35 pm ET)
Cole is five starts into his return from Tommy John surgery, and the results have been great so far. His last time out was a quality start in a blowout victory over the White Sox, the kind of six-inning low-fuss performance we often expect from him at bare minimum. Gerrit will get to reunite with one of his old Yankee batterymates, Jose Trevino, during this series. He’ll also face Suárez, a veteran he’s battled since his Pirates days.
Chase Burns is, in more than a few ways, the Reds’ equivalent to Cam Schlittler. Armed with an overpowering fastball and wipeout slider, Cincinnati’s No. 2 overall pick in 2024—who made his MLB debut against the Yankees last year—is taking the Senior Circuit by storm this season with a 2.01 ERA in 14 starts. Burns hasn’t typically pitched as deep into ballgames as Schlittler has, since his pitch counts tend to elevate quicker, but he has the highest strand rate (92.2 LOB%) of any qualified starter in the majors; a testament to how difficult he is to square up. His .191 opponent batting average is third in the league among that set, just ahead of Schlittler at .193. He may be young, but he’s already the staff ace.
