This late in the season and with no team goal to strive for other than to gain positive momentum heading into the postseason, it’s about the little things for these two division rivals. For this particular Wednesday matchup, the biggest little thing is to follow Gerrit Cole’s work on the mound — especially in how he handles what has become a bit of a home run problem as of late, allowing a whopping eight long balls in his previous three starts.
While it is true that the Rays aren’t what one might
describe as a homer-happy team, particularly on the road, it’s not as if Cole’s recent opponents sat anywhere near the top of the HR leaderboards. We’ve come a long way since Cole’s regular-season debut against the Rays, in which he deployed an approach we’ve seldom seen from him since. In that game, Cole relied on a sinker as his second most used pitch to complete six scoreless innings in the Bronx against Tampa.
It’s the third different lineup for the Yankees in as many games in this series, and while that in and of itself isn’t particularly newsworthy, one specific change will jump out. For the first time since his call-up, the Yankees will hit George Lombard Jr. in the second spot in the order — it comes as a reward for Lombard, who has hit safely in seven of his last eight starts.
A while ago we discussed here that even though it wasn’t the ideal scenario, the Yankees might easily find themselves needing to move Lombard up in the order to balance a lineup without Judge. Judge came back and got hurt again, and the Yankees are now trying out this alternative against the right-hander Mason Englert. Much like his opponent on the mound tonight, Englert has also dealt with home run woes in recent starts, allowing five in his last two.
How to watch
Location: Yankee Stadium – Bronx, NY
First pitch: 7:05 p.m. ET
TV broadcast: Amazon Prime Video, Rays.TV
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | WDAE 95.7 FM, WQBN/1300AM (TB)
Streaming: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv (out-of-market only)
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