Mood Music - All My Loving by The Beatles
The New York Yankees will play the second of three games against the Cincinnati Reds, with recently acquired Brian Gordon facing the Reds ace, Johnny Cueto. Things to be made aware of:
Much of Cueto's success this season (1.68 ERA) has been a result of inducing ground balls at an excellent 55.9%. He will mix in a change up to left handed batters, but is primarily a fastball-slider pitcher, with most of the fastballs being of the two-seam variety. Cueto's fastball will sit around 93 MPH and his slider around 83 MPH.
Worthy of note: Cueto's miniscule ERA is somewhat belied by a 3.29 FIP, still excellent, but in line for some regression. Hopefully the Yankees can provide that normalization with a big offensive day.
Making his second start, following a 5.1 IP - 2 ER performance against the Texas Rangers, Brian Gordon will look to continue being the Bartolo Colon band aid that we need him to be. If you've forgotten or didn't watch his last start, Gordon will rely almost exclusively on a fastball (~90 MPH) and a big loopy curveball (~70 MPH), with the occasional slider or change up. Also, as a converted position player, he might not be so hopeless when he gets in the batters box.
As Cueto is right handed, the Yankees will hopefully field an intelligent lineup tonight. Look for the Game Thread at 7.