New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles: Gerrit Cole vs. Jordan Lyles

The Yankees look to keep their winning ways going as they hand the ball off to the official staff ace, Gerrit Cole. They’ll look to extend their winning streak to four in a row tonight as they take on the Baltimore Orioles in the third matchup of this four-game set.

Despite a rough start to the season, Cole’s stat line looks right around what you would expect out of a top-of-the-rotation starter — a 2.95 ERA, 11.3 K/9, and a 3-0 record, although his 3.41 FIP is a little bit on the high side. How he got to this point, however, is quite a rollercoaster: After three starts, he had an ERA of 6.35, and in Chicago on April 19th, he walked five batters and could not get out of the second inning. But since that night, he has been absolutely electric, working into the seventh inning in three of his last four starts and allowing just four runs in that span. The Yankees hope that he continues this trend as he makes his first start against the Orioles this year — a statistical oddity, considering they’ve played each other 14 times already.

Opposing him will be Jordan Lyles (2-3, 4.38 ERA, 4.42 FIP). If you look up “inconsistent starter” in the dictionary, Lyles is almost certainly used as an example. When he’s been on, he’s been electric, allowing just one run against the Yankees on April 15th, shutting out the Oakland A’s across five innings on the 20th, and working into the eighth while allowing just two earned runs to the Royals on May 8th. When he’s been off, he’s been extremely hittable; the Rays dropped five runs on him on April 9th and the Yankees six on April 26th. For more, I wrote about his two starts against the Yankees earlier today.

Two regulars will rest tonight as DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton take a seat. The Yankees will out an infield of Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Gleyber Torres, and Anthony Rizzo. Aaron Judge will DH with Stanton out and Marwin Gonzalez will man right field in the big boys’ place. Jose Trevino will catch Cole for the fourth time in the ace’s last five starst.

How to watch:

Location: Oriole Park at Camden Yards — Baltimore, MD

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES Network, MASN

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

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