Following a dramatic comeback win last night, the New York Yankees have a chance to come away with a split in this four-game set.
- Texas Rangers (51-28)
- New York Yankees (38-39)
- American League, 1:05 pm ET, YES & MLB Network
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Brian McCann’s two homers and four RBIs in the final two innings helped bring the Yankees even, and Didi Gregorius hit a huge walk-off blast to win a game they simply had to have.
With the improbable victory, Joe Girardi’s team has a chance to ride their momentum day game after night game and coast back to .500 land. With that said, the baseball saying goes, “Your momentum only takes you as far as your next day’s starting pitcher”. Fittingly enough, the man on the mound is riding some serious momentum.
Pitching Matchup
Michael Pineda (3-7, 5.51 ERA) is coming off a strong outing against Minnesota in which he surrendered a mere two hits and one run while striking out eight. He has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his last three outings and has struck out 25 in 17 1/3 innings over that span.
Since a June 2 start against Detroit in which he changed his arm angle, the big right-hander is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in five starts. He will look to continue that upwards trend in an important game for the Yanks today.
Opposing Pineda on the mound for Texas will be A.J. Griffin (3-0, 3.08 ERA). A 28-year-old right-hander, he has been effective in seven starts for the Rangers thus far in 2016. In his most recent outing he allowed two earned runs over four and third innings in a no-decision against Boston.
Fun fact: The two men on the mound today combine to stand 13 feet tall.
Lineups
.@griffin_64 toes the rubber this afternoon as we look to take the series! https://t.co/F4lcR15bS1 #LetsGoRangers pic.twitter.com/6bLlhfjp3e
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 30, 2016
#BIGMike and the #Yankees look to split the series with the Rangers today: https://t.co/EHIFDdEEJk pic.twitter.com/zcGwva8KPb
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 30, 2016
The Yankees do not sit McCann in a day game following a night game given his tremendous performance late in last night’s game. They look to keep his hot bat in the lineup in a game that will be the difference between heading to San Diego two games under or at an even .500.
News & Notes
- Carlos Beltran will sit for a second consecutive today after tweaking his hamstring rounding first base in Tuesday night’s game. He remains day-to-day yet it remains unclear whether he will play this weekend given the lack of a DH in a National League park.
- The Yankees will push back CC Sabathia’s Sunday start to Monday. They will rather call up Chad Green, who has been brilliant at Triple-A, to make the spot start. The reasoning is that with Sabathia’s ankle acting up of late, the club does not want to run the risk of him injuring it while potentially running the bases in San Diego. This proves to be a win-win as Masahiro Tanaka will now make his next start on five days rest, a scenario in which he is 3-0 with a 1.24 ERA in six starts this season as opposed to 1-2 with a 5.28 ERA in seven starts on normal rest (four days).
