New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox: Michael King vs. Nathan Eovaldi

Yesterday, the Yankees lost a clunker against the Rays to split their four-game series. Tonight, New York takes their first shot of many at the Red Sox, the team immediately ahead of the Bombers in the AL East standings.

Michael King (of the hill) inherits the task of holding down Boston while the Yankees’ offense tries to sort itself out. This will be King’s ninth appearance of the season, and his second start. In 22 innings so far this season, he has pitched to a 2.86 ERA. Ominously though, in King’s last 9.2 innings, he has surrendered 7 earned runs. If we could have the Michael King whose first four appearances combined for 12.1 scoreless innings, that would be great.

For Boston, former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi takes the hill. This will be Eovaldi’s 12th start of the season. He has pitched to a 4.01 ERA and has allowed only one home run in 60.2 innings. In 2020, the last time the Bombers faced him, they tagged him for 8 runs in 5.1 innings… including three home runs. #TooManyDingers tonight, please.

For game one, the Bombers are running out what mostly passes for the A-lineup these days. Aaron Judge anchors the order from the 3-hole. Gary Sánchez, who has quietly climbed back to respectability with a 105 wRC+ on the season, is in at catcher batting eighth. Today would be a wonderful day for the offense to come alive against the perennial foe. After the Yankees let the back end of the bullpen soak up the final four innings of yesterday’s game, Aaron Boone should have the big guns at his disposal for the latter innings tonight.

Let’s go Yankees! Beat the Red Sox. The last week and a half would be a lot less painful with a convincing series win this weekend.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, NESN, MLB Network (out-of-market only)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

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