It sure is good to be out of Boston. After a horrendous four-game set against the Red Sox, the Yankees head to Chicago to kick off a series against the other Sox team. The White Sox are having a terrible season, so hopefully the Bombers will take advantage of this opportunity and actually beat up on a weaker team. That plan has yet to work out against the Orioles, though. Here’s a look at the probable pitching matchups and what to expect from the series.
Game One: Lance Lynn vs. Dylan Covey
Welcome to the rotation, Lance Lynn! I suspect that all Yankees fans will be pleased with his first start in pinstripes as long as he has better results than Sonny Gray. (Yes, it is a very low bar.) We got our first look at the newly acquired Yankee last week when he was forced to take over after Gray was hit hard by Baltimore. Lynn tossed 4.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. He owns a 4.89 ERA (4.57 FIP), but has surrendered three or less runs during his last five outings. The right-hander already faced the White Sox twice this season, and gave up six runs over 11 innings of work.
Dylan Covey will take the mound for Chicago. Although he has improved compared to last year (-1.1 fWAR in 2017), he is still having a bad season. The right-hander has posted a 5.57 ERA over 14 starts. Every now and then he tosses a gem, but he has mostly tossed clunkers since the middle of June. He surrendered ten earned runs during his last two starts. Covey issues a lot of walks (4.09 BB/9) and gave up a whopping four home runs to the Rangers a couple weeks ago. This could be just the matchup the Yankees need to get the offense back on track.
Game Two: CC Sabathia vs. Reynaldo Lopez
The southpaw hasn’t been quite as sharp recently as he was at the start of the season. After an incredible June (1.93 ERA through 32.2 innings), Sabathia struggled in July. He hasn’t made it through six full innings in over a month. Most recently, he gave up two earned runs through three innings against the Red Sox, and just didn’t have anything. The Yankees could use a bounce-back outing from him this series.
He will take on Reynaldo Lopez. The 24-year-old right-hander owns a 4.47 ERA (5.17 FIP) over 129 innings pitched. Lopez limited the Royals to just two earned runs across seven innings last week, but was hit hard by Toronto on July 27th. The Blue Jays managed eight runs (and FIVE home runs) over 4.1 innings of work.
Game Three: Luis Severino vs. Lucas Giolito
All eyes will be on this start by Luis Severino. The Yankees ace was dominant for the first three months of the season, but hasn’t put together a quality start since July 1st. With the way that this team is playing right now, they really need Severino to pull himself back together. He surrendered twenty earned runs over his last four starts. The last time Sevy faced the White Sox was in June of 2017 when he limited them to one run and racked up 12 strikeouts.
It’s not difficult to see why the White Sox are having a rough year after looking at the stats of some of their starting pitchers. Of the three that the Yankees will face, Lucas Giolito is having the worst season. His 5.97 ERA and 5.92 FIP don’t inspire much confidence. He doesn’t generate many strikeouts, walks a ton of batters, and gives up a great deal of home runs. If this series doesn’t wake up the offense, the Yankees might be a lost cause.