Astros at Yankees
The New York Yankees aren't looking like a team that needs to bolster its lineup, but that's what they'll do when they welcome back slugger Aaron Judge on Friday in the second contest of a four-game series with the visiting Houston Astros. Judge has not played since suffering an oblique strain April 20 but expects to hit the ground running for the surging Yankees.
"When I get back on the field, I got to play," Judge told reporters. "I'm not going to try to baby it or go at 80 percent. We're in the major leagues. I've got to be at 100 percent. So I'm going to go out there and play at 100 percent." He joins a squad that has won six in a row - one shy of a season high - while averaging 8.2 runs after taking the series opener 10-6. Edwin Encarnacion hit his second home run since joining New York four games ago and his 23rd on the season as the Yankees (47-27) moved 20 games over .500 for the first time in 2019. The Astros, who are mired in their longest losing streak of the year at five in a row, will try to get back into the win column behind Brad Peacock on Friday while the Yankees counter with James Paxton.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston), WPIX (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Brad Peacock (6-4, 3.67 ERA) vs. Yankees LH James Paxton (4-3, 3.93)
Peacock has given up two home runs in each of his last two starts after serving up a total of five through his first 11 starts. He allowed four runs over five innings of a loss to Toronto on Sunday. The 31-year-old has a 6.75 ERA in six previous meetings with the Yankees - all in relief.
Paxton bounced back from a rocky outing on June 11 to spin six solid innings in a win at the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. He was rocked for five runs and eight hits in four frames at Houston on April 10. The University of Kentucky product is 7-4 with a 3.33 ERA in 13 starts against the Astros.
WALK-OFFS
1. Astros CF George Springer (hamstring) hit two homers in the first game of his rehab assignment with Double-A Corpus Christi on Thursday.
2. Yankees OF Cameron Maybin is 10-for-22 with four home runs and six RBIs over his last six games.
3. New York has hit at least one home run in 23 straight games, two shy of matching the franchise record.