Yankees at Orioles: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Kevin Gausman

“I have given a name to my pain, and it is Aaron”

So must believe today’s Orioles starter, Kevin Gausman. Yankees’ right fielder Aaron Judge owns a career 1.214 slugging percentage against the right-hander. That’s not OPS, folks, it’s JUST slugging. To nobody’s surprise, Gausman will get his first look at Judge almost immediately after first pitch, as the big man is in his customary second spot in the lineup for today’s Saturday matchup at Camden Yards.

Coming off a 4-1 victory last night, the biggest story around the Yankees was the solid start put forth by Sonny Gray. It’s been a roller coaster year for Gray, but Friday’s 6 IP, 0 BB and 6 K had to be encouraging. The Yankees follow it up with another starter on an up and down season, with Masahiro Tanaka taking the hill. Tanaka is 6-2 on the season, but his personal performance has left a lot to be desired, with both his walk and strikeout rate worse than they were last year. Hopefully, Masa can take some cues from Gray and round back into form against the Orioles.

Thursday’s game was rained out, and the forecast for tonight doesn’t look super encouraging, with rain expected to fall all day and a nasty looking Doppler map. I’m frankly tired of all the rainouts this year, and with any luck this game will be done before the rain really starts to come down in Baltimore.

First pitch goes at 4:05pm EDT, on YES and WFAN.