The New York Yankees kick off their second consecutive weekend series against the Boston Red Sox Friday, this time on the road at Fenway Park.
The Yankees are currently in a treacherous slump without Aaron Judge, as they are 3-5 in their last eight games and are hitting .202 as a team in that span. The last place Red Sox currently sit at 34-35 and are 4-6 in their last 10 games.
Yankees-Red Sox storylines
As previously mentioned, the Yankees’ offense has virtually disappeared in Judge’s absence. They are averaging barely over three runs per game since June 5, and rank near the bottom of the league in AVG and OBP.
To put it bluntly, the Yankees have been one of the worst offenses in baseball in the month of June, and things have to turn around now before the Rays’ AL East lead gets out of reach.
The Yankees will receive a huge boost for the start of this series, as Outfielder Harrison Bader is expected to make his return to the lineup after playing in one rehab game with the Somerset Patriots. He was 0-for-4 in that rehab game.
The Red Sox took two out of three in their first series meeting last weekend, despite great Yankees pitching all series long. The Yankees will now look to at the very least even up the season series and get them back to their winning ways.
Yankees-Red Sox pitching matchups
Here are the probable pitching matchups listed for this weekend’s series (subject to change):
- FRI – Domingo German (NYY) vs. Tanner Houck (BOS)
- SAT – Clarke Schmidt (NYY) vs. Brayan Bello (BOS)
- SUN – Luis Severino (NYY) vs. James Paxton (BOS)
The main player to keep an eye on out of the pitching staff is Luis Severino, who after his first two starts has turned in a handful of dreadful starts with a lack of command and velocity.
German and Schmidt kick things off this weekend, but they seem to have found a groove with their pitching and have turned in some very solid performances over the past few weeks.
Overall on the season, Severino’s ERA sits at 6.48, and while it is a small sample size of starts, his struggles are truly alarming.
In his last start against the Mets, Severino gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits and walked three, and struck out four in 4.2 innings pitched. Thankfully for Severino, the offense put up a rare big night off Max Scherzer and was able to win the game 7-6.
With how the offense has performed as a whole this month, they will need Severino to turn in a great performance on Sunday to help the team get back to winning.
Final thoughts
This is a huge series for the Yankees. With the injuries and the lack of offense, this is easily their lowest point of the season thus far, but they have a chance to turn things around right now with a good series against their longtime rival.
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