New York Yankees @ Cleveland Guardians: Nestor Cortes vs. Aaron Civale

The Yankees already took care of business in game one, with the bats breaking out in a 13-4 win, and can sweep the doubleheader today while securing another series win along the way. They’ll have Nasty Nestor on the mound to accomplish this goal.

Nestor Cortes is no longer the odds-on favorite to start the All Star Game for the AL, but he’s pitched well enough to deserve a nod on the roster, and can continue to make that case tonight with a strong outing. He enters play with a 2.51 ERA and 3.38 FIP, although the key to his start today may be avoiding the long ball — he’s allowed 6 homers in his last 19 innings, a rate that’s had him as the poster boy for this slight slide the rotation’s been on over the last month or so.

As Peter noted last night, Aaron Civale was on the losing side of the Yankees’ 10-2 drubbing of the Guardians in April, giving up six runs in three innings. He surrendered at least four runs in each of his first six starts and missed a month earlier this season with a glute injury. That said, he has looked better in his last three outings, pitching to a 2.93 ERA across 15.1 innings.

Civale features a legitimate six-pitch mix — throwing a cutter, curveball, sinker, four-seamer, splitter, and slider each at least five percent of the time — and is one of the preeminent spin merchants in baseball with a 95th percentile spin rate on both fastball and curve. In nine starts, Civale is 2-4 with a 7.20 ERA (54 ERA+), 4.48 FIP, and 39 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched.

The Yankees have shuffled the starting nine between games. After sitting on the bench in the matinee, Anthony Rizzo, Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Joey Gallo, and Kyle Higashioka are in the starting lineup. Matt Carpenter, Gleyber Torres, Marwin Gonzalez, Aaron Hicks, and Jose Trevino will each take a seat. Aaron Judge is back in the outfield with Giancarlo Stanton at DH, while 27th man Miguel Andújar remains in left field.

We are back on YES and MLB.tv after this afternoon’s Amazon Prime exclusive.

How to watch

Location: Progressive Field — Cleveland, OH

First pitch: 6:10 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, Bally Sports Great Lakes

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1380

Online stream: MLB.tv

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