The New York Yankees game, against the Baltimore Orioles, was postponed last night due to persistent heavy rain traveling through the Bronx. The game will be made up today as the first game of a doubleheader, at Yankee Stadium.
The games today will not be affected by the weather. Game one will be played at 4:05 pm eastern. It will be partly cloudy with a game-time temperature in the mid-’70s. Game two at 7:05 pm will be played under mostly sunny skies with temps at about 70. Both of today’s games will be broadcast on the YES Network and in Baltimore on MASN2. Game two will also be televised on the MLB Network (out of market only).
The Yankees enter this series with a bit of momentum, after winning the finale with the Toronto Blue Jays, Wednesday night. Deivi Garcia had the best outing of his three starts, since his major league debut. He pitched seven strong innings allowing two runs, four hits while striking out six and not allowing a walk. Zack Britton has a scoreless eighth, and Aroldis Chapman struck out all three of the Jays hitters in the ninth. He recorded only his second save last night after returning from the coronavirus on August 17.
In game one today, Gerrit Cole will try to break his losing streak. Cole is 4-3, with an ERA of 3.63. Cole this season, is not the Gerrit Cole we saw last year. He lacks the dominance and throws a lot of pitches, to not go deep into some games. There is no question that Cole is the Yankee’s best pitcher, but he is less than what Yankee fans expected. The Yankees have lost the last four of Cole’s starts. In his last start last Saturday, he gave up five runs in just six innings. To be completely fair only one run was earned. a throwing error by Thairo Estrada leads to the other four runs. Cole today, will try to end his three-game losing streak and continue the Yankee’s momentum.
The Orioles will serve up Alex Cobb, in the first game. Cobb is 1-3 with an ERA of 4.33. This will be his first game back from the IL, for an undisclosed reason. Cobb is a veteran pitcher, that the Yankees have faced several times over the years, but not this year. The Yankees last faced him on Aprile 4, 2019, in a game that the Yankees won 8-4. In his career, Gary Sanchez has scored two home runs off Cobb, during 11 at-bats. Gleyber Torres also likes Cob, he too has 2 long balls off the righty, in only six at-bats. Cobb’s last outing was on August 29th, when he lost to the Blue Jays.
Game two will headline the New York Yankees Masahiro Tanaka. Masahiro Tanaka after a slow start this season, after getting hit in the head at the end of summer camp has pitched much better in his last two starts. In his last two starts against the Braves and Rays, he has gone eleven innings allowing only six hits and one home run. He only walked one batter while striking out 11 players. Tanaka unlike other Yankee pitchers has not pitched very well at Camden Yards. He has a 5.22 ERA over seven starts are Orioles Park. The Yankees hope he can right that in today’s last game of the doubleheader. Tanaka overall this season is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA in six games. Tanaka lost his last game against the Orioles on September 6th at Camden Yards.
Last night’s scheduled pitcher for Baltimore will start game two. Keegan Akin of the Orioles. This will be the second time the Yankees have faced Akin. In his last outing against the Yankees this past Saturday, he held the Yankees scoreless for 5.1 innings, walking four and striking out eight Yankees. Akin has been a reliever for the O’s but with their shortage of pitchers, he was turned into a starter. This will be his third start since his major league starter debut last month. Coincidentally in his last outing, he also faced Gerrit Cole, who lost the game for the Yankees.
Both of these games, as well as the entire New York Yankees series with Baltimore, have postseason implications. The Yankees are just holding on to the eighth spot for the AL postseason, after slipping behind the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees are third in the East, and Baltimore is just 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees and is still in contention for the last spot on the postseason list. If the Yankees do well in this series, they will set the Orioles further behind. Should they falter, the Orioles could potentially take that spot away from the Yankees.