The second half of the Major League Baseball season begins around the country Friday night, and what better series to get things started than arguably the best in baseball: Yankees at Red Sox from Fenway Park. Boston will be a MyBookie series favorite, although as of this writing Yankees’ starting pitchers haven’t been announced. This is a four-game set so you can only bet on the first three.
On Sunday in Game 1, the Sox go with struggling Rick Porcello, last year’s Cy Young winner. The good news is Porcello pitched his best game of the season on the Saturday before the All-Star break, allowing six hits and one run over eight innings in a complete-game, 1-0 loss at Tropicana Field.
Porcello’s allowing a .346 batting average on balls in play — the highest of his career and fourth-highest in the American League. Repeating the .269 BABIP he posted a year ago was always unlikely, but there’s middle ground between these extremes.
In the second game of Sunday’s day-night doubleheader, it’s David Price for Boston. He started the season on the DL and struggled a bit after coming off but has thrown four consecutive quality start. He’s put together a 2.52 ERA during that time and struck out 26 in 25 innings. Since joining the Red Sox, Price has had a tough time against the Yankees, going 1-4 with an 8.31 ERA in six starts.
MLB Series Prediction: How to Bet on NY Yankees at Boston
When: Friday, 7:10 PM ET; Saturday, 4:05 p.m. ET; Sunday Game 1, 1:05 p.m. ET; Sunday Game 2, 8:05 p.m. ET Where: Fenway Park, Boston TV: MLB Network (Friday), Fox Sports 1 (Saturday), TBS (Sunday Game 1), ESPN (Sunday Game 2) Stream: MLB.tv Radio: WFAN 660 (NY), WCEC 1490 AM (Boston) MLB Series Odds: TBAProud of all our All-Stars, the future is bright! Can’t wait to see them back on the field this weekend! pic.twitter.com/a9nRdDjS3j
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 12, 2017
Yankees Player News
If the Yankees’ Aaron Judge wasn’t the biggest star in baseball when the first half ended, he likely is now. Judge defeated Miguel Sano in the finals of the 2017 All-Star Game Home Run Derby on Monday. It looked like Judge might get upset after No. 7 seed Justin Bour surprised everyone by hitting 22 home runs in the first round. However, Judge responded with 22 of his own and then clubbed one more in bonus time to move on. He dominated his next two opponents, defeating Cody Bellinger in the semifinals with over one minute to spare on the clock and then beating Sano in the finals with over two minutes to spare. Judge had the four longest home runs of the night, with the farthest one going a whopping 513 feet. He hit 47 of them overall. Judge started Tuesday’s All-Star game but was quiet. Judge leads the majors in homers and is the clear AL MVP and Rookie of the Year favorite. New York is expecting back DH Matt Holliday for this game. Holliday (virus) went 1-for- 4 with a single Sunday in his second minor league rehab game with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The veteran slugger landed on the 10-day disabled list June 25 with a viral infection, but he’s ready. Alas, All-Star second baseman Starlin Castro is likely not going to be ready for the series opener. Castro is likely to play in rehab games with Double-A Trenton on Thursday and Friday. Assuming he doesn’t have any setbacks, it appears he might be activated as soon as Saturday. Castro has missed the last two weeks with a strained right hamstring. He didn’t play in the ASG.Red Sox Probables
As noted above, New York manager Joe Girardi is taking his sweet time in naming his pitchers for this series, although it should be Luis Severino, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka in whatever order. The Sox have their rotation lined up just as they want. It’s lefty Drew Pomeranz on Friday. He is 3-0 with a 1.82 ERA in his last five starts. Pomeranz is 2-1 with a 2.40 ERA in six career appearances against the Yankees. On Saturday, it’s Cy Young favorite Chris Sale, who started Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Sale had 178 strikeouts at the break, the most by any MLB pitcher Schilling in 2002. At Fenway, Sale is 6-1 with a 2.34 ERA while holding opponents to a .187 average.
On Sunday in Game 1, the Sox go with struggling Rick Porcello, last year’s Cy Young winner. The good news is Porcello pitched his best game of the season on the Saturday before the All-Star break, allowing six hits and one run over eight innings in a complete-game, 1-0 loss at Tropicana Field.
Porcello’s allowing a .346 batting average on balls in play — the highest of his career and fourth-highest in the American League. Repeating the .269 BABIP he posted a year ago was always unlikely, but there’s middle ground between these extremes.
In the second game of Sunday’s day-night doubleheader, it’s David Price for Boston. He started the season on the DL and struggled a bit after coming off but has thrown four consecutive quality start. He’s put together a 2.52 ERA during that time and struck out 26 in 25 innings. Since joining the Red Sox, Price has had a tough time against the Yankees, going 1-4 with an 8.31 ERA in six starts.
Season MLB Series
New York spent much of the first half leading the AL East. But the Red Sox have held the top spot in the division since June 30. The Yanks lead the season series 4-1. Judge is slashing .333/.478/.556 against the Red Sox this season with a homer. The only Boston win was 5-4 on June 6 in Yankee Stadium. Pomeranz labored through a career-high 123 pitches in five innings. All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel finished it, striking out five in 1 1/3 innings — one batter reached on a wild pitch.Latest MLB Series Trends
- Yankees are 1-4 ATS in the last 5 games
- Red Sox are 1-4 ATS in the last 5 games
- Yankees are 1-4 SU in the last 5 games
- Red Sox are 1-4 SU in the last 5 games
- The total went OVER in 4 of NY Yankees’s last 5 games on the road
- The total went UNDER in 5 of Boston’s last 6 games at home
