Last night the New York Yankees swept the Boston Red Sox, for their second swept in as many series. Their first sweep was of the Baltimore Orioles. In their first eight games of this short season, they have had many stars that carried the team on their shoulders. Giancarlo Stanton’s team-leading on-base percentage to Gio Urshelas Grand Slam and Aaron judge’s career leading consecutive game home runs have all highlighted the games.
Gerrit Cole leads the team with two wins in his two games. Although some of the other pitching has been a bit, suspect, the New York Yankees excellent bullpen and powerful hitting has carried the team to the best record in all of baseball. Even with closer Aroldis Chapman out due to the coronavirus, Zack Britton stepped up to get three saves in three tries. Chapman is now back with the team and healthy.
After possible infection of the Philadelphia Phillies after meeting up with the Miami Marlins, which had a massive outbreak of the coronavirus, the four-game matchup with the New York Yankees was postponed. After some rescheduling and no further CV-19 positives by the Phillies, the Yankees will host the Phillies for two games at Yankee Stadium and then go to Citizen’s Bank Park for the final two games.
Tonight’s game played at Yankee Stadium will be played under mostly cloudy skies, with a slight chance of thunderstorms late in the game. The game-time temperature will be in the mid-’80s. The game will be broadcast on the YES Network and in Philadelphia on NBCSP.
Tonight the Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will face the Phillies Jake Arrieta in his first start of the season. MLB in an abundance of caution shut down the Phillies for the last seven days. The Phillies have only played three games in this short season winning only one of them against the Miami Marlins. The Philadelphia Phillies are often called the Yankees south. The team is led by former Yankee manager Joe Girardi and former Yankee players, Didi Gregorius, Ronald Torreyes, Andrew McCutchen, and Neil Walker, all now playing for the Phillies.
In Cole’s start tonight he will face a team he has seen seven times. His record against the Phillies is 4-3 with a 3.38 ERA. But these games were played while he was a Pirate, and before he became the pitcher he is today. He hasn’t played the Phillies since 2017. This year he is 2-0 in two starts with a 3.09 ERA. In his first game of the season, he beat the World Champion Washington Nationals. He also won over the Baltimore Orioles.
The New York Yankees in tonight’s 7:05 pm game will face Jake Arrieta in his first start of the season after missing the last half of last season due to bone spurs. The bone spurs are gone and Arrieta is healthy. Last year he went 8-8 for the Phillies with an ERA of 4.64. Arrieta has been with the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago Cubs. While with the Cubs in 2015 he had his best year winning 22 games and receiving the Cy Young Award. For Arrieta, since then it has been all downhill as he won fewer games in each succeeding year. In the last few years, he has given up quite a few home runs and will have a tough time facing the Yankee’s powerful lineup.
Prediction: Yankees 5-2.