New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox: Jordan Montgomery vs. Tanner Houck

Despite some fairly notable and heartbreaking losses, the Yankees have continued to play really well of late. They’re 20-9 since the All-Star break, nearly cutting their deficit in the AL East standings in half. They’ve won 11 of their last 12 series, if you want to count yesterday’s makeup game as a series on its own. However, that one series loss came at the hands of the team they’re about to face, and it’s one that they really can’t afford to drop another one against.

Starting with a doubleheader today, the Red Sox are in town for a three-game set over the next couple days. Coming into this game, the Yankees are 1.5 games back in the Wild Card race, and two games back of Boston, who currently holds the first Wild Card. A win in this series would do wonders for the Yankees cutting into that, with a sweep vaulting them over the Red Sox. A series loss wouldn’t end the Yankees’ playoff chances, but it certainly wouldn’t be great for them. Needless to say, this series is important.

The Yankees will get some reinforcements for this afternoon’s opener, as Jordan Montgomery and Gary Sánchez are back from the COVID-IL, and will both be taking the field in the matinee. Catcher especially has been a bit of a black hole offensively recently, so Sánchez’s return is a boost.

Tanner Houck will get the start for Boston after being called up as their “27th man” for the doubleheader, just as the Yankees will do with Luis Gil for the nightcap. Houck has been good in 30.2 innings across eight MLB games, six of which were starts.

Go Yankees, go baseball.

How to watch:

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 1:05 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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