While it ended on a sour note, the Yankees’ trip to Kansas City went well, as they came away with another series victory by taking three of four over the Royals. Now, the road trip is set to continue with a visit to Boston to play some old “friends” for the first time this season.
The Red Sox come into this three-game set at Fenway Park with a 35-34 record after taking two out of three from the Phillies — almost exactly .500. To be frank, that’s pretty much what they’ve played like all year as well. Boston has never been above or below five games of .500, and they’ve been 1-1, 2-2, 7-7, 10-10, 19-19, 22-22, 24-24, 26-26, 27-27, 29-29, 30-30, 31-31, 32-32, 33-33, and 34-34 before their current record. They’re far from a bad team, with the likes of Rafael Devers, Tanner Houck, and others putting up good seasons. It’s just that they’re right about average, both in the numbers of runs per game they score and the number per game they allow.
Before the Yankees and Red Sox renew their rivalry tonight, let’s take a look at the expected matchups for the next couple days.
Friday: Luis Gil vs. Brayan Bello (6:30 pm ET)
Please note that this game time is a half and hour earlier than originally scheduled due to the Celtics taking part in the NBA Finals.
In the game, Gil will experience Fenway for the first time, and also his first taste of the rivalry since his brief 2021 run in the big leagues. He’s coming off his “worst” start of recent weeks, but heavy emphasis on the quotation marks. Even then, he only allowed three runs in 5.2 innings against a very powerful Dodgers’ lineup. Those runs dragged his ERA since the beginning of May up to just 1.07.
This is Bello’s third season in the majors, and he’s generally been pretty good against the Yankees in the past, holding them to five earned runs (nine in total) in 31 innings. That being said, so far this season, he’s put up a 4.78 ERA and 4.65 FIP, both career worsts — and a bit of a surprise for Boston since they extended him in March on a six-year, $55 million deal. A lot of that damage has come in recent weeks, as batters are OPSing .847 off him since mid-May.
Saturday: Carlos Rodón vs. Cooper Criswell (7:15 pm ET)
The Rodón 2024 bounce-back continued earlier this week when he held the Royals to one run in seven innings. Much was made of his struggles in 2023, but it should be noted that even last year, he wasn’t terrible in his one start against Boston, allowing one run in five innings, striking out nine.
After having spent parts of the previous three seasons in the majors with the Angels and Rays, this has been Criswell’s first real extended run in the bigs. He started the season in the minors, but was called up in mid-April as Boston dealt with injuries. For the most part, he’s been solid, recording a 4.13 ERA (102 ERA+) and a 3.86 FIP. That being said, he comes in to this series on a bit of a down, as half of the earned runs he’s given up on the season have come in his last three appearances alone.
Sunday: Marcus Stroman vs. Kutter Crawford (7:10 pm ET)
The traditional Yankees-Red Sox Sunday night game will be started by Stroman, getting his first on-field taste of the rivalry after growing up a Yankee fan. After struggling a bit in a start against the Twins, he bounced back earlier this week in KC, throwing 5.2 shutout fames. Even including the five runs in 4.2 innings he gave up to Minnesota, Stroman still has a sub 2.00 ERA dating back to mid-May.
While the Yankees will miss one half of it, Houck and Crawford have provided a very nice 1-2 punch at the top of Boston’s rotation, and the Yankees will face Crawford in the finale. In 80.1 innings across 14 starts, he’s put up a 3.47 ERA and a 3.56 FIP, striking out nearly a batter every inning. He comes in with just a 2-6 record though, as the Red Sox offense has a habit of not granting him much run support.
