New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox: Series Preview
07/05/2024 08:30 AM
The Yankees try to get back on track as an old enemy comes to town.
The first half of the week went poorly, as the Yankees got swept at home by the Reds, featuring a couple of close losses before an 8-4 loss in a finale. They've now dropped five of their last six series (tying the other), and they're an MLB-worst 4-13 since mid-June. It's time to kick up the intensity a bit. Starting tonight, the first Bronx meeting of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry will get going.
A couple weeks ago, these two teams met in Boston, with the Red Sox taking the series that started the Yankees' recent swoon. Since that series, Boston has won 12 of their last 16 games in that same timespan, pulling into a virtual tie with the Royals for the last AL Wild Card spot, and ensuring that this series will have some stakes beyond mere rivalry bragging rights.
Before the two teams renew hostilities tonight, let's take a look at the expected pitching matchups for this weekend.
Friday: Nestor Cortes vs. Tanner Houck (7:05 pm ET)
June was a month of a lot "fine, but not spectacular" outings for Cortes, who posted a 3.97 ERA in his six games — though it did lead all Yankees starters outside of the now-injured Cody Poteet. One of the teams he avoided was the Red Sox, though, who he's struggled against in his career, putting up a 5.59 ERA. That being said, only a couple of his head-to-heads have come from his 2022 breakout on. He was pretty solid against them in four games in '22 and then missed them entirely last year.
The Yankees themselves missed Houck in that last series, and he has been mostly excellent in his second season since moving to a full-time rotation role. He has a 2.67 ERA, a 2.56 FIP, and has struck out nearly a batter per inning. That being said, June was a bit iffy for him, as he regressed from the 1.85 ERA he entered the month with, and he's coming off allowing seven earned runs on nine hits against the Padres last week.
Saturday: Gerrit Cole vs. Josh Winckowski (1:05 pm ET)
After a disastrous second start since returning from injury against the Mets, Cole was much better in his third outing. He only went five innings as he still builds up his pitch count, but he allowed one run on three hits, while striking out six batters. Considering that he went 90 pitches last time, you'd figure this start will truly start to get him back into a normal length after being limited the first couple times around.
Dealing with some rotation injuries, the Red Sox will give Winckowski — whose had a bit of a swingman role this year — the start on Saturday. He's been good on the whole this season — 2.80 ERA, 3.58 FIP — but he's looked especially solid in the handful of games he's started, with a 1.15 ERA, albeit in just a four-game sample size.
Sunday: Luis Gil vs. Kutter Crawford (7:10 pm ET)
Gil's regression continued in his last appearance, as he surrendered four runs in four innings to the Reds on Tuesday. Since a scoreless, one-hit outing against the Twins to start June, he's posted an ERA over eight and is allowing a .954 OPS. That being said, the one pretty solid effort in that time came against the Red Sox at Fenway. While he only lasted 96 pitches over five innings, he did only permit one Boston hitter to dent home plate while fanning six.
Crawford's formed a very nice 1-2 at the start of Boston's rotation this year, coming into this start with a 3.47 ERA and 102 punchouts in 98.2 innings. That strikeout total was helped quite a bit by the Yankees, who K'd nine times in six innings back on June 16th. For his career, he's now struck out 35 Yankee batters in 29.2 innings.
