Yankees vs. Red Sox
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox - arguably the biggest rivals in U.S. sports history - have clashed more than 2,000 times but Saturday's meeting in London will be the most unique as Major League Baseball is played for the first time in Europe. The two-game series will be contested at London Stadium - capacity 66,000 - with dimensions of 330 feet down the lines and 385 feet to center field braced by a 16-foot wall, and foul territory more than 4,000 square feet greater than in Oakland.
“Is it perfect? No,’’ Jim Small, MLB senior vice president of international business, told USA Today. “But the challenge with baseball is fitting a baseball field into a facility. You can’t put it on a soccer field like you can in the NFL. There’s just not enough room, so that limits us where we can go. But we are comfortable with the dimensions here. The great thing about baseball is there is no cookie-cutter setup. These are two perfect examples with the (short) right field at Yankee Stadium and the Pesky Pole at Fenway. So, having a non-traditional layout shouldn’t affect anybody on these two teams.’’ The Yankees (52-28) are threatening to run away with the American League East, leading third-place Boston (44-38) by nine games with Tampa Bay 6 1/2 out entering Friday, and owning a 4-1 season series lead on the Red Sox. Boston crosses the pond treading water as it went 3-3 during a six-game homestand against Toronto and the Chicago White Sox, and finds itself in a tight wild card race featuring six teams fighting for two spots. New York's Masahiro Tanaka on Saturday makes his first start against the Red Sox since defeating them in the 2018 AL Division Series and opposes Rick Porcello, who is 1-3 with a 4.75 ERA in five June outings.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, FOX
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (5-5, 3.21 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Rick Porcello (5-7, 4.52)
Tanaka received a no-decision after allowing two runs and eight hits in six innings of New York's 7-5 victory over Houston on Saturday. The 30-year-old Japan native is 2-0 with a 2.49 ERA in his last three starts, including a 3-0 victory over Tampa Bay on June 17 in which he threw a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts. Boston's J.D. Martinez is 8-for-18 with three home runs and eight RBIs versus Tanaka, who is 8-4 with a 4.35 ERA in 18 starts against the Red Sox.
Porcello allowed five runs, eight hits and four walks in six innings of a 6-1 loss to Toronto on Sunday. The 30-year-old New Jersey native was sharp in his previous two starts, yielding two runs and nine hits over 13 2/3 innings in a 2-0 victory at Minnesota on June 17 and a no-decision in Boston's 4-3 win over Texas on June 12. New York's Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez are a combined 7-for-32 with one home run apiece against Porcello, who is 10-9 with a 3.32 ERA in 23 starts against the Yankees after permitting five runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings of a 5-3 loss in New York on June 1.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Yankees extended the major league record by homering in their 29th straight game while winning for the 11th time in their last 12 contests, 8-7 over Toronto on Wednesday.
2. Both games are sold out with the average ticket price 250 pounds (about $320 U.S. dollars) with the least expensive 30 pounds ($38).
3. Boston will be considered the home team and bat last in both games, which will be played on artificial turf.