Yankees vs. Nationals: Series Preview

After securing another series win this weekend, the Yankees head south for a pitstop in the nation’s capital for a makeup date with the Nationals. The weather in Washington was atrocious back in May, which led to the first of a two game series being suspended in the sixth inning. The outcome of that game will be decided first, while game two will begin approximately 30 minutes after game one finishes.

The Yankees and Nationals split a two game set last week in the Bronx, but Washington have actually been a much better on the road than they have been in Nationals Park. They’ll have to win a battle of the bullpens to take game one, which will resume in the bottom of the sixth after Wander Suero struck out Aaron Judge to end the top half of the frame, just before the heavy rain arrived. Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon and Matt Adams are due up in the bottom of the sixth. The Nationals had the early 3-0 when this game started over a month ago, but the Yankees clawed back to tie it thanks to three RBI by Tyler Austin, who went ice cold at the plate shortly after the game was suspended. Chad Green is the reported “starter” for the abbreviated contest.

Game two features a rematch of Wednesday night’s matchup, when Sonny Gray takes on Erick Fedde. Gray has been up and down for much of the 2018 season, and certainly didn’t have his best stuff against the Nationals in his last start. He gave up four runs on seven hits through five innings, including a three run shot to Juan Soto that never stopped carrying out to left field. The wind certainly aided Soto’s first homer of the night, but Gray had been bailed out by terrible baserunning for much of the early innings, so perhaps the baseball gods were just restoring balance. Gray enters the start with a 4.98 ERA. At least he has been noticeably better on the road.

Fedde’s start against the Yankees on Wednesday was just his second of the season, and he didn’t fare much better than Gray. He allowed four runs through five innings, including solo home runs to Greg Bird and Gleyber Torres. The 25-year-old will look to rebound in what will be his second home start of the season. His last one came against the Padres in late May, when he allowed three runs over 5.2 innings. Let’s hope we see the struggling Fedde, right?