New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles: Jordan Montgomery vs. Bruce Zimmermann

Playing the Orioles in a four-game series can be a long endeavor. Thus far, the Yanks have taken care of business with three wins. While they haven’t been particularly easy, a win is a win. Today, they look to secure the sweep before heading back to a field with dimensions more suited for hitting dingers.

Jordan Montgomery takes the bump in this matchup in what will be his third start against the Orioles already. In those appearances, he has been solid with 10.2 innings, six strikeouts, and only two earned runs allowed. Monty has been solid all year for the Yanks, but the ongoing theme this year (and in previous ones) has been the team’s lack of run support. It must be tough to pitch under these circumstances every time, but I’m sure the southpaw is confident that the offense will come around at some point for him. They’ve scored three runs or fewer in three straight Montgomery starts, but let’s all come together and will some bamboozling into existence.

The opposing pitcher will be Bruce Zimmermann. The local product has quietly pitched his tail off this year to the tune of a 2.72 ERA in 36.1 innings pitched. Coming off of two straight performances with six innings and two runs allowed, Zimmermann is feeling it.

Respect to what Zimmermann has done so far, but I’m pretty confident that he won’t keep it up much longer. Why? His peripherals aren’t exactly to die for. While expected statistics are more flawed this year than usual due to the deadened baseballs, it’s hard to come up with an argument in favor of Zimmermann keeping up this performance. His expected ERA is 4.39, and his xwOBACON is .420. He doesn’t really strike out that many hitters either, with an average 21.5 K% and no pitch outside of his changeup has great underlying specs. If you’re not a strikeout pitcher, then ideally you’d want to suppress hard contact. Zimmermann doesn’t do either too well.

Now what does that all add up to? Smells like a good recipe for a sweep to me. The Yankees offense was given the last eight innings off yesterday with Gerrit Cole and Clay Holmes doing their thing. It’s a great day to rebound on offense for Monty’s sake. Watch out for Gleyber Torres too. He’s been swinging a hot bat and Zimmermann is a perfect matchup for an oppo taco blast.

Josh Donaldson and Joey Gallo take rest today as Marwin Gonzalez makes his second-straight start, this time in left field. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are united once again in the lineup, and DJ LeMahieu will man third. Kyle Higashioka is set to catch Montgomery in the quick turnaround after Jose Trevino got the honors last night.

How to watch:

Location: Oriole Park at Camden Yards — Baltimore, MD

First pitch: 12:35 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES Network, MASN

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

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