After an absolute gem of a start last night, we turn now to a lefty-lefty matchup today at Citizen’s Bank Park — at least for the first inning. Tim Mayza will play the role of opener for the Phillies, before giving way to the MLB debut of former Yankee draftee Brian Keller. Ryan Weathers will fill out the Yankee side of the southpaw equation, in his 20th start of the year.
Weathers has been perfectly serviceable as a rotation-depth piece, even if having him follow a start like Cam Schlittler’s last
night is kind of setting yourself up for disappointment. The lefty has been a tick above league average by ERA and a tick below by FIP, but the most encouraging thing about his year is a career-best K-BB rate. The long ball has been the problem, and while he has managed to be extremely effective against lefthanded hitters, when you’re homer prone facing the likes of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, you’ve got to be at least a little nervous.
Tim Mayza’s an old friend and foe, being a stalwart in the Blue Jays’ bullpen before being dealt to the Bronx back in 2024. He won’t blow the ball by you, and strikes out *just* 23.9 percent of batters faced, but has run a groundball rate between 45-58 percent every year of his career save 2017. Keller will follow, after parts of 10 seasons in the minors. The Yankees selected him back in the no-longer-existent 39th round out of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2016 before he was claimed off waivers by the Red Sox in 2021 and went to Japan in 2023. After rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and other injuries, he now has a 2.23 ERA albeit a 4.23 FIP with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs this year, and while I’m happy he gets to be a major leaguer, I hope it is a not-so-friendly welcome to the bigs for the right-hander.
We see a little bit of a shuffle in the lineup, with Aaron Boone deciding that Amed Rosario, managing a .636 OPS against lefthanded pitching, should be the leadoff hitter and once again stand at third base. One imagines he will be replaced by Ryan McMahon as soon as Mayza is yanked, but it still is gonna make my eye twitch. Jazz Chisholm Jr. returns to second base after an off day yesterday, and José Caballero slides over to shortstop putting Anthony Volpe back on the bench.
The game is on YES, the only such occurrence this weekend.
How to watch
Location: Citizens Bank Park
First pitch: 6:05 pm ET
TV broadcast: YES | NBCSP
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | 94 WIP (PHI)
Streaming: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv (out-of-market only)
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