Yankees at Red Sox
The New York Yankees' ability to beat the Boston Red Sox this season may not be the only reason why the defending World Series champions find themselves in dire straits when it comes to their postseason aspirations, but it certainly hasn't helped. The bitter American League East rivals get together for one more series starting Friday when the Red Sox host the opener of a four-game set against the Yankees.
One year after Boston went 10-9 in the regular season and defeated New York in four games in the AL Division Series, the Yankees have more than returned the favor by winning 11 of the 15 meetings. New York swept the Red Sox in a four-game series at home in early August and has won five straight against them overall, although Boston took three of four in the only series between the teams this season at Fenway Park (two games in London in late June were considered home games for the Red Sox). The Yankees enter the weekend with a 9 1/2-game lead in the division after Thursday's day off and are 9-3 in their last 12 contests following a four-game losing streak. The Red Sox, who trail New York by 16 1/2 games in the division, fell 6 1/2 games behind Oakland in the wild-card race following Thursday's 2-1 setback at home to Minnesota in the rubber match of their three-game set.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FB-Watch, MLB Network, WPIX (New York), NESN (Boston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Domingo German (17-3, 4.01 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Jhoulys Chacin (3-10, 5.79)
German was unable to add to his major-league leading win total when he did not factor into the decision against Oakland on Saturday after permitting two runs over five innings. The 27-year-old owns a 9-2 record and 5.45 ERA in 13 outings away from home, and his only loss since June 7 came on the road after getting tagged for five earned runs in 5 1/3 frames at Oakland. Xander Bogaerts is 4-for-8 with a solo home run versus German, who is 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA in three starts against Boston this season.
Released by Milwaukee late last month, Chacin is not expected to work more than two or three innings in his Red Sox debut in what figures to be a bullpen game after last pitching July 24. The Venezuela native, who has fallen on hard times this season after winning a career-high 15 games in 2018, is winless over his last 12 starts since beating Colorado on April 30. DJ LeMahieu is 4-for-10 against Chacin, who went 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA in his only two career starts versus the Yankees in 2016.
WALK-OFFS
1. Red Sox 3B Rafael Devers is one home run away from becoming only the 10th player in league history with 30 homers, 100 RBIs and 100 runs in a season before his 23rd birthday.
2. Boston OF Mookie Betts is 6-for-9 with three homers and six RBIs in his last two games but is batting only .190 despite three home runs and 11 RBIs this season against the Yankees.
3. The teams combined for at least 14 runs in each game during the series at Fenway Park from July 25-28.