The New York Yankees are coming off a series win over the Minnesota Twins and playing much better after the slide. This season, the Yankees have had double-digit hits in four games in a row for the first time. The Yankees are now 33-30 and 4-6 in their last ten games for third in the AL East 6.5 games behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays.
This weekend the New York Yankees have a short two-game series in the city of brotherly love. First, they will meet up with ex-Yankee Joe Girardi’s Philadelphia Phillies. Then, today, they will have a late afternoon game and an early afternoon game on Sunday before traveling north to Buffalo to play a 3-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays starting on Tuesday night.
Today, 4:05 pm:
The Yankees’ Jameson Taillon will face the Phillies’ Vince Velasquez. Jameson Taillon has been the Yankees’ least dependable starting pitcher this season. At times he has shown bright, but more often, he has struggled to come back to form after his two Tommy John surgeries that have kept him from pitching for most of the last two years.
Taillon is coming off a no-decision against the Red Sox in which he allowed three runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings. Taillon has pitched to a 3.52 ERA over his past three starts, spanning 15 1/3 innings. Today will be his twelfth start on the season. The Yankees have lost 7 of his eleven starts. He has not gone deep into games, only going 6.1 back on May 7th.
The Yankees will face the Phillies’ right-hander Vince Velasquez who is 2-1 with an ERA of 4.33 and 52 strikeouts over 12 games, 8 of them starts. Valasquez started the season strong, pitching to a 2.30 ERA in his first six starts. However, things have not been going well for the righty in his last two starts producing an ERA of 11.57. He has allowed nine runs in just seven innings. The Phillies are hoping he can bounce back to form today against the hard-hitting Yankees. Today’s game will be televised on WPIX and its affiliates in the New York area. NBCSP and MLBN out of market.