Series Preview: Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees (6/6–6/8)

After a mediocre road trip and an off day, the Yankees will be back at home to face the rival Boston Red Sox in a three game series. The Yankees currently lead the season series 2-0. The Yankees sit in first place with a 32-22 record, going 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Red Sox, at 31-25, find themselves in second place and two games behind the Yankees, going 6-4 in their last 10 games.

Game One (Tuesday, June 6 | First Pitch: 7:05 PM ET)

Masahiro Tanaka (5-5, 6.34 ERA) vs Drew Pomeranz (5-3, 4.24 ERA)

TV: WPIX, MLBN, NESN

After a 13 strikeout performance against the Athletics, Tanaka once again was a dud in his last start against the Orioles, giving up seven runs in 5.2 innings. Tanaka’s 6.34 ERA is currently the worst in the American League and second worst in all of baseball. Furthermore, Tanaka hasn't won a game since May 8th at Cincinnati. With the talent to be an ace, Tanaka will look to get his season back on track.

Pomeranz will get the nod for Boston as he has won his previous two starts against the Rangers and White Sox. In five games and four career starts against the Yankees, Pomeranz is 1-1 with a 2.52 ERA. Didi Gregorius has the most success against Pomeranz, going 4-9 wth a home run. Brett Gardner and Matt Holliday also have home runs off Pomeranz.

Photo Credit: Ian Norris

Game Two: (Wednesday, June 7 | First Pitch: 7:05 PM ET)

CC Sabathia (6-2, 4.12 ERA) vs Rick Porcello (3-7, 4.24 ERA)

TV: YES, MLBN, NESN

Sabathia is on a nice little hot streak as he has won his last four starts, giving up no more than two runs in all of those starts. Sabathia has lowered his ERA nearly a full run during his four game win streak and will look to continue his winning ways.

Porcello, last year’s AL Cy Young award winner, has taken a step back in his performance, as he has already lost three more games than he did in all of 2016. Porcello will look to try to keep the ball in the ballpark against this powerful Yankees lineup as Brett Gardner, Chase Headley, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks all have gone deep against Porcello, with Hicks having two homers against the Red Sox right hander.

Game Three: (Thursday, June 8 | First Pitch: 7:05 PM ET)

Michael Pineda (6-3, 3.76 ERA) vs David Price (1-0, 3.00 ERA)

TV: ESPN, YES, NESN

While Pineda did lose his last start, he managed to win his previous three starts beforehand. With an ERA under four, Pineda will look to continue to give the Yankees quality starts. Price started the season on the disabled list and has only made two starts this season, but in those two starts he is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA. The Yankees have plenty of success against Price as the team as a whole has a career .299 average against him. Didi Gregorius has had the most success against the lefty as he is batting .476 with a home run in his career against Price. Gary Sanchez is 2-5 with two home runs in his limited action against Price.

Photo Credit: David Meehan

Players to watch

Yankees:

Aaron Judge

Judge is always a can’t miss player as he has been dominating pitching and hitting majestic home runs all season. Judge currently leads all of Major League Baseball in home runs and is in top 10 in a lot of other offensive categories. Look for Judge to continue to slug at home as he is batting .370 with 12 home runs at home.

Didi Gregorius

Gregorius will look to continue to rake against Boston pitching as he has had the most combined success against them. Also be on the lookout for Sir Didi’s tweets should the Yankees win a game during this series.

Brandon Trujillo

Red Sox:

Andrew Benintendi

Benintendi, the preseason favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, will look to try to compete with Judge for the award and not let Judge run away with it. While only 0-7 vs the Yankees this year, Benintendi  is an exciting young player who looks to be a future star for years to come.

Pablo Sandoval

Sandoval, who has been injured for most of the season, hasn’t played against the Yankees since his first year in Boston in 2015. Sandoval will look to get back on the healthy path and will try to get back to where he was in San Francisco.

Photo Credit: Adam Marston

The Yankees lucked out with missing Sale in this series, but will still face some quality pitching. Tanaka’s best start of the year came against Boston when he had the complete game shutout back in April and hopefully can get back on track. A series win would be huge for the Yankees as they can increase their division lead this series.

Article by: Julian Bussells
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