The New York Yankees have made their way back to Yankee Stadium, for a four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles, which may include a doubleheader this weekend. The games are supposed to be one a day through Sunday, but as it appears now, tonight’s game may very well be postponed due to a cold front traveling through the area, causing significant rainfall. If the game is played, it will be at 7:05 pm. Gerrit Cole will start for the Yankees and Keegan Akin for the Baltimore Orioles.
The Yankees enter this series with a bit of momentum after winning the finale with the Toronto Blue Jays, last 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.
Tonight, when the Orioles meet up with the New York Yankees they will face the Yankees ace, Gerrit Cole. 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 Yankees 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 tonight, will try to end his three-game losing streak.
The Yankees will face 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.
Before the Yankees won last night against the Blue Jays, they had lost their last 15 games of 20 played. This allowed the Toronto Blue Jays to take 2nd place in the AL East, dropping the Yankees to third. With the win last night the Yankees are just clinging on to the 8th spot in the AL postseason. The Yankees need to at least win this series against the Orioles. Even better, would be a sweep, as they will face their nemesis Tampa Bay Rays in the following series at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are just 1-6 off the Rays. Also of interest is that the Yankees will face the Blue Jays in seven of the remaining eighteen games of the regular season.