It’s past vs. the future this afternoon in Arlington, as the Yankees go for a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers in a Wednesday matinee on the backs of a highly-touted prospect making his MLB debut against a grizzled veteran who once donned the pinstripes as a youngster.
Elmer Rodríguez is getting an audition these next two weeks, as he figures to get two (maybe three?) starts as the Yankees’ fifth starter before Carlos Rodón returns from his rehab assignment. For a breakdown of what to expect,
check out Andrés’ piece from this morning.
Acquired from the rival Red Sox for Carlos Narváez in December 2024, the Puerto Rico native is the No. 72-ranked prospect in all of baseball and No. 3 in the Yankees’ organization behind George Lombard Jr. and Carlos Lagrange. After a solid spring training and World Baseball Classic performance, Rodríguez was off to a dynamite start in Scranton, pitching to a 1.27 ERA in 21.1 innings with 20 strikeouts to just four walks. He doesn’t seem to have a path to staying in the bigs for much of this season, barring injury, but the Yankees clearly would rather try him out than keep throwing Luis Gil every fifth day.
Old frenemy Nathan Eovaldi gets the start for the Rangers and will be making his 22nd career start against his former team, the most of any opponent. Originally drafted by the Dodgers, he was dealt to the Marlins for Hanley Ramírez and then flipped to the Yanks in December 2014 alongside Garrett Jones and then-prospect Domingo Germán for Martín Prado and David Phelps. He spent two years in pinstripes and made 48 starts before undergoing Tommy John surgery and being released after the 2016 season.
From then on, he’s been an enemy. He split time with the Rays and Red Sox in 2018 and was a key part of Boston’s 2018 World Series victory. After gettomg a new contract from Boston, he had a down 2019, but rebounded to be one of the most effective and consistent pitchers in the game for the next three seasons and tortured the Yankees along the way, allowing two runs in 12.1 career postseason innings against New York. He’s spent the last few years in Texas, where he won a another ring in 2023 and has been similarly steady until this year, when he’s struggled to a 5.79 ERA through six starts, giving up an AL-high nine homers.
Eovaldi still has great command, gets a lot of groundballs, and plenty of chases and whiffs, but he’s getting tagged significantly more this year than ever before. His fastball has never been his money pitch, but it has a startlingly bad -7 run value this year, while his cutter and curveball have similarly regressed. His strength remains his filthy splitter, which he’ll use to keep a powerful lineup honest all night.
Trent Grisham’s injury scare last night wasn’t enough to keep him out of the lineup today, as he leads off. The usual next four follow, with Jasson Domínguez getting his first start in left field in 2026 so Judge can DH, batting sixth. J.C. Escarra gets the “day game after a night game” start, followed by Ryan McMahon and José Caballero.
Similar top of the order for the Rangers with Brandon Nimmo, Josh Jung, Corey Seager, and Joc Pederson. The top six is identical to last night, but Kyle Higashioka slides in at catcher and Ezequiel Duran bats ninth at second base, with Alejandro Osuna between them.
How to watch
Location: Globe Life Field — Arlington, TX
First pitch: 2:35 pm ET
TV broadcast: YES, Rangers Sports Network
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), 105.2 The Fan, KLFC 1270 (TEX)
Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only)
For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.
