New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Rick Porcello

There’s baseball in Europe today, folks. Well, to be fair, there’s baseball in Europe every summer, but today marks the first time MLB will hold a regular season series on the continent. The Yankees and Red Sox kick off their two-game series this afternoon.

Masahiro Tanaka gets the ball for the Yankees. His last time out was his first start since his shutout against the Rays. He went six innings and allowed two runs while facing the Astros. It was a pretty gutsy performance too considering Tanaka clearly didn’t have his best stuff. He only recorded one strikeout and had just one swing-and-miss. Tanaka hasn’t faced Boston this season, but he owns a 4.35 ERA in 107.2 career innings against them.

The Yankees’ bats are up against Rick Porcello today. Since winning the Cy Young Award in 2016, he’s essentially been a league average pitcher with just a 101 ERA+ in the three subsequent seasons. Porcello simply hasn’t fooled too many hitters this year. His WHIP, K%, and BB% are all a tick below league average.

We get to see the Yankees’ A+ lineup today. Here’s a look:

And Boston’s lineup:

Today’s game will be nationally televised on FOX. Game time is set for 1:10 PM EST.