Yankees at Tigers (Game 2)
The Detroit Tigers finally began to generate some momentum with the bats in the late innings on Friday, only to have Saturday's game postponed. The Tigers will try to fight through the raindrops again when they host the New York Yankees in a split doubleheader on Sunday that is scheduled despite the threat of rain throughout the day.
Detroit managed five runs while being swept in a four-game series at Cleveland earlier this week and scored one through six innings in the return home on Friday before finally pushing five runs across in the last three innings. New York still walked away with an 8-6 victory and watched Aaron Hicks pick up a slumping middle of the order with a pair of home runs - including an inside-the-park blast - while Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez combined to go 1-for-13 out of the three, four and five spots in the order. "If the weather is awful [Sunday], it's awful, and you could have a situation like today," Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters. "I think if it's like this, and it's raining all day, and that's the forecast, I'd like to think that it'll be called intelligently ahead of time. But we'll see." New York ace Luis Severino will take the mound in the opener opposed by Tigers lefty Francisco Liriano while Yankees righty Luis Cessa and Detroit left-hander Matthew Boyd square off in the nightcap.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, YES (New York), FS Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Luis Cessa (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Tigers LH Matthew Boyd (0-1, 1.38)
Cessa is making a spot start in place of left-hander CC Sabathia (hip), who is expected to return next week. The 25-year-old Cessa threw a perfect inning of relief in each of his two appearances out of the bullpen while recording three strikeouts. Cessa is 2-7 with a 4.54 ERA in 14 career starts and made his major league debut against Detroit on April 8, 2015, when he surrendered one run in two innings of relief.
Boyd is still looking for his first win despite dominating both the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians in his first two appearances. The 27-year-old surrendered a total of two runs and seven hits while striking out five in 13 total innings but could not get enough run support to come out on the positive side. Boyd did not have much success in two previous starts against the Yankees, allowing a total of 11 runs - nine earned - in 8 2/3 innings to absorb a pair of losses.
WALK-OFFS
1. Yankees RF Aaron Judge hit safely in each of the last 11 games.
2. Tigers SS Jose Iglesias singled in his last two at-bats on Friday, matching his hit total from his previous 10 games.
3. Detroit 3B Jeimer Candelario hit his first homer of the season in the series opener.