The New York Yankees will host the Chicago White Sox in a three game series kicking off on Monday night looking to continue a hot streak that’s made them one of the bigger surprises of the season’s first couple weeks. Chicago, of course, doesn’t provide too much of a challenge given their rebuilding mode, but just how long can the Yankee’s luck continue in the win column, while their luck with injuries continues to be so, well, bad.
This series will be contested from Monday, April 17, 2017 through Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at Yankee Stadium in New York. Monday's clash is being shown live on WGN.
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Pitching Matchups
A young arm will be featured in each game of this three game series as the Yankees will throw Jordan Montgomery and Luis Severino on Monday and Tuesday and then the Sox will turn to Rule-5 draftee Dylan Covey on Wednesday.
Montgomery was good, but not very pitch efficient in his Major League debut. He lasted just four and two-thirds innings against the Rays. He ended up giving up three runs—two earned—in the game. On the positive side, he was able to leave a number of Rays’ player shaking their heads while striking out seven.
The 24-year old lefty is coming off a break out season in the minors where he split time between Double-A and Triple-A, going 14-5 with a 2.13 ERA and 1.199 WHIP in 25 starts.
Montgomery will square off against a veteran southpaw as both teams will contend with lefties. For the Sox, that lefty is Derek Holland who has actually looked very solid in his outings for Chicago.
Holland showed flashes in his time in Texas, but injuries prevented him from establishing himself as a top-end starter. Now, the 30-year old is enjoying a change of scenery. In two starts, he’s posted back-to-back quality outings, allowing just two combined earned runs and five total hits, while striking out nine in 12 innings of work.
Saturday’s starter for New York has a bit more experience on the mound, but the 23-year old Severino has been a bit of a quandary. He was dominant in his first big league taste, starting 11 games in 2015, posting a 2.89 ERA. We was far less impressive last year and actually pitched much better in relief than he did as a starter. He’s looked a bit better here in the early going of 2017. He’s struck out 17 in 12 innings, but he’s also already allowed a pair of home runs.
Severino’s counterpart for the Sox on Saturday will be Miguel Gonzalez who through some sort of magic always seems to be a serviceable big league starter.
In his last start against the Yankees he threw seven shutout innings, pitching at Yankee Stadium, however, has been a bit more of a challenge. He’s also given up a lot of base runners in his first two starts of 2017, giving up 15 hits and walking six in 10.2 innings of work. He’s been able to minimize the damage, but he can only get away with walking the tight rope so many times.
In Wednesday’s match up, we get our first look at one of the Sox’s young guns in Covey. He looked good in his Major League debut. He was a bit rocky at first, but settled down to pitch well, getting into the sixth. He’s not a top prospect by any means, but he’s shown enough in the minors to suggest he could be a serviceable big league starter.
At his best, Covey cannot hope to be as good as his opponent, Masahiro Tanaka. The Japanese import has been a true ace since coming to the states, but he’s having issues with his mechanics. Tampa Bay destroyed him to the tune of seven runs in 2.2 innings on Opening Day and he gave up four walks in five innings against Baltimore his next time out. He was at least okay in outing number three, but St. Louis still scored three in 6.1 innings, but that was enough to get the win.
Who's Hot?
It’s actually a bit of a shock that the Yankees have been so good since their 1-4 start. They’ve won six straight games heading into Sunday.
New York has gotten good pitching from most of the rotation, with Tanaka the only exception, and the bullpen has been pretty dominant, too. Offensively, there are holes in this lineup and a plethora of injuries, but most of the lineup has produced above expectations in the season’s first two weeks.
Chase Headley for one is on fire. He’s hitting .378 while showing some speed. Meanwhile, Ronald Torreyes—who is only starting because of the Didi Gregorius injury—has eight RBIs. Outfielder Aaron Hicks has only gotten 26 at bats to this point, but he’s really looked good in his chances with a .462 OBP.
For the Sox, second baseman Tyler Saladino, Avisail Garcia and Matt Davidson have been the best offensive players. Garcia has been an intriguing player for years, but constantly has underperformed. He’s hot right now, going 16 for his first 38 with eight RBIs and a 1.055 OPS. Davidson, meanwhile, has three homers in 23 at bats. One bad sign, however, is the fact he’s struck out 12 times in 24 at bats.
Who's Not?
While there have been a lot of good coming from New York in the last week with their winning streak, this is still a team with Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregourius, the two most intriguing offensive players from last year’s team, on the disabled list.
Greg Bird, on the other hand, is healthy and after tearing up the Grapefruit League, Yankee fans and bettors a like had big hopes for him in this lineup, but he’s been terrible. He’s just 1 for 26 to this point in seven games. And has seen Chris Carter take more and more at bats. Carter is hitting just .182.
While the Yankees have Bird struggling, the White Sox have most of their lineup. Jose Abreu is batting .205 with just one extra base hit. Todd Frazier is batting a mere .111 and Tim Anderson is batting .140.
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