After a languid start to the baseball season, the New York Yankees have been playing great ball, actually the best ball in all of baseball the last few weeks. They are now 28-19, just one game out of first place in the East after going 8-2 in the last ten games.
The main reason for this rise in the standings is superior pitching from most of the rotation and the club hitting when needed, even though the hitting across the board is still deficient. Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Gleyber Torres have stepped up their game dramatically, with Judge leading the pack with the highest batting average and the most home runs.
The Yankees have won several series in a row now, and this weekend at the Stadium in the Bronx, New York pulled off a three-game sweep of the number one AL Central team, the Chicago White Sox. What is so encouraging to fans is that they did it with a combination of fine pitching and some very exciting small ball, along with stellar defense including the first triple play since 2014. The Yankees outscored the Sox 14-5 and did it with only two home runs.
After a day off of rest, the New York Yankees will tackle the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium in a 3 game set starting today. The Yankees and the Blue Jays have faced each other six times so far this year. The Blue Jays are up on the Yankees 4-2; however, the Yankees weren’t playing well at the start of the season.
Tuesday, May 25, 7:05 pm:
Tonight the Yankees’ Corey Kluber will face the Jays’ Steven Matz. Kluber is coming off the first no-hitter of his Cy Young career and the first Yankee no-hitter since David Cone’s perfect game in 1999. Kluber is the opposite of Matz, who started hot but has gone cold. Kluber has just now come up to speed, pitching great. He is 4-2 with an ERA of 2.86. His no-hitter was a gem at Arlington, Texas, against the Rangers when he threw 101 pitches while striking out 9 Rangers and coming just one walk away from a perfect game. Yankee fans will be sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what’s next for Kluber.
Kluber will be facing Steven Matz, who is coming off one of the worst games of the season against Boston. He hasn’t given up many hits, but the hits he has issued have been hit hard. The Blue Jays have lost four out of his last five starts. He has given up 25 earned runs, seven of them home runs.
Wednesday, May 26, 7:05 pm:
On Wednesday night Domingo German will take the mound for the New York Yankees against a yet to be announced Jays pitcher. German this season seems to be getting better the more he pitches. In his last outing against the Rangers, he pitched seven scoreless innings in a game the Yankees won 2-0. The Yankees have won his last six starts.
Thursday, May 27, 7:05 pm:
Thursday night’s finale will feature Jordan Montgomery, who is coming off his best outing of the season when he pitched seven scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox. He is 4-2 with an ERA of 4.05. In his White Sox win, he struck out a career-high 11 Sox while not allowing a walk.
Montgomery will face the Jays’ lefty, Robbie Ray. Ray was an offseason acquisition for the Jays. He is 2-1 with an ERA of 3.42. Ray can make his pitches but has always been dogged by walks, but not this season; he has allowed only one walk in his last six games. Yankee hitters will have to be aggressive with Ray because he won’t issue walks.
Notes:
All games will be broadcast on the YES Network and SNET-1 in Canada. Thursday’s game will also be on MLBN out of market. The weather at Yankee Stadium for Tuesday and Thursday will be mild and not an issue. Wednesday night’s game will be considerably warmer and with pop-up thunderstorms in the area.