Pitching Matchups:
Nathan Eovaldi (0-2, 6.11 ERA) vs. Cesar Ramos (2016 Debut)
Nasty Nate will take the ball in game one for New York coming off his first quality start of 2016. On Wednesday, the righty allowed three runs and eight hits while striking out seven in six innings of work during the 5-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
Ramos is a journeyman left-hander that has only started ten games but has 251 relief appearances under his belt in over seven years in baseball.
For the Los Angeles Angels in 2015, Ramos went 2-1 with a 2.75 ERA in 65 outings of relief. He was 0-1 with a 3.18 ERA in three starts in the minors this year and owns a 5.57 ERA in 19 games (one start) against the Bombers.
Luis Severino (0-2, 4.86 ERA) vs AJ Griffin (2-0, 3.18 ERA)
The 22-year-old “future ace” will be squaring off against Texas for the first time in his young career. Severino, who struggled mightily in his first two starts, is on a quest to build on his best outing of the season when he pitched six innings of two-run baseball against the A’s last week.
The Yankees will catch a break, for once, and not face a lefty. Griffin, a right-hander, is nevertheless not an easy task.
He is off to solid start to 2016 as he is holding opponents to a .203 average (.129 against righties) and holds the opposition to a .143 average when runners are in scoring position. Certainly not good news for a team that ranks near the bottom of the league in that category (.194 BA).
Griffin is also 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees.
CC Sabathia (1-1, 5.28 ERA) vs Martin Perez (0-2, 4.50)
Big CC will take the mound to wrap up the Yankees’ series against the Rangers.
Sabathia is looking to go deeper into games following two outings in which he failed to make it out of the fifth inning.The lefty is still looking to channel the stuff he had in his quality start against the Detroit Tigers back on April 9th.
Perez is on a mission for his first victory of 2016. Back in July, he allowed eight runs in one inning of work against the Yankees at home. Since that porous start, Perez is 3-0 with a 2.31 ERA at home.
