New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals: Gerrit Cole vs. Brady Singer

After an off-day yesterday, the Yankees are back to action at home in the Bronx this evening. They’ll take on the Kansas City Royals, who as Peter noted in his series preview earlier today, did quite well during the season’s opening month but have since gone into a 17-29 tailspin to dip under .500. This is not a terrible team, but one that the Yankees should absolutely handle in a three-game set, especially at home.

Step one begins tonight with the Yankees’ ace on the hill: Gerrit Cole. The reduced-sticky-stuff version of Cole in June has notched fewer strikeouts and given up more homers than the dominant early edition, but he’s still gotten the job done. Last time out in fact, he coughed a pair of homers, fanned only four batters, and still allowed just four hits and two runs over eight innings of work. The man is still quite good and will look to prove that against Kansas City.

The Royals will counter with Brady Singer, their top draft pick from 2019 who is in his second season in the majors. In 14 starts, he has a middling 4.76 ERA and 1.426 WHIP, though a better 3.44 FIP. Half of all balls in play against Singer turn into grounders, so the Yankees might face a challenge getting dingers tonight. Be wary of more annoying double plays.

On the plus side in the Yankees’ lineup, they will have Luke Voit back for the first time since May 25th. On the down side, they won’t have the hot bat of Gary Sánchez since Cole is on the mound, so that apparently means that Kyle Higashioka is automatically penciled in. For what it’s worth, Aaron Boone did hint that Sánchez will likely see double duty in a day-game-after-night-game situation on Wednesday/Thursday. Ideally, that’s the case because a bat like Gary’s should not be starting just once in a three-game series.

Go Yankees, go baseball.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 p.m. ET

TV broadcast: YES, Bally Sports Kansas City

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

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