I'm on the road this weekend so this will have to be short.
The Yankees have the best record in baseball and pounded the G's in New York, winning three straight by a combined score of 19-7 in late April. The Yankees have hit more home runs at this point in the season than any team in their history. They are starting Garrett Cole and two tough lefties. On paper this will be another sweep.
If that happens the G's will complete their brutal 17-game gauntlet with a 7-10 record, which is about what I was hoping for.
The Yankees are averaging 5.1 runs per game on the road, slightly better than at home. Their road record is not as good (22-12) as at home (an incredible 34-9).
Cole is 6-2, 2.99. He shut out the G's for six innings in the April series in New York. He's allowed two earned runs and struck out 27 in his last three starts. Aaron Civale gets the start for the G's. Civale has a 7.20 ERA and has allowed 51 hits in 40 innings. However, he has done a decent job of limiting home runs, allowing just 6 in 40 innings. In April the Yankees scored six runs off him in three innings, hitting 12 fly balls to 1 ground ball.
If Aaron wants to have any chance to go more than three innings tonight he needs to make them hit the ball on the ground and hope a lot of them are right at somebody. In 74 at-bats the current Yankees have hit just one home run off Civale - by Anthony Rizzo.
Jose Ramirez is 5-for-14 against Cole with a couple of home runs but the rest of the Guardians who have faced him are hitting .102.
Saturday it's McKenzie, who has been giving up home runs in bunches, against the best home run hitting team in Yankees history so far. Lefty Nestor Cortes, who beat the Guardians in April, goes for New York. Cortes has been a little more hittable in his last two starts, allowing 7 runs in 9.1 innings. But the Guardians are hitting .222/.614 against lefties.
Our best bet to steal a win is probably Sunday when Zach Plesac, who has allowed just two runs in his last 18 innings, faces Jordan Montgomery, who has allowed 15 hits and 9 runs in his last two starts. Montgomery is having a good season, 3-1, 3.27, but has been hittable in his last two outings.
This will be the last games of the season against the Yankees, thank goodness. After this series the first half concludes with 14 games against the Tigers, Royals, and White Sox.