New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals: Jordan Montgomery vs. Zack Greinke

After dropping two games to the Mets earlier this week and looking lethargic in the first game against the Royals, the Yankees find themselves in position to get the brooms out today in the finale of this four-game set against Kansas City. A win today would keep the wind in the Yankees’ sails as they prepare for the Seattle Mariners, recently fortified by the acquisition of Luis Castillo.

Jordan Montgomery takes the mound today for the Yankees. Monty is fresh off his absolute worst start of the season, a 2.1 inning stinker against the Mets when he allowed five runs (four earned) and took the L. Notwithstanding that outing, he’s been pretty solid for the Yankees, giving them 110.2 innings on the season, with a 3.50 ERA. So far in 2022, he’s been extremely successful getting opposing batters to chase (88^th percentile chase rate) and at limiting the free pass (92^nd percentile BB%). If that holds today, Monty may well have a bounce back outing.

For the Royals, veteran righthander Zack Greinke takes the ball to face the Yankees. The grizzled 38-year old, in his first season back in Kansas City since 2010, has given the Royals basically what they should have expected at this stage of his career: solid, if unspectacular, performance. He doesn’t strike many batters out (5.12K/9), but he also forces hitters to swing the bat, with a BB% even better than Montgomery’s (95^th percentile for the Royals’ elder statesman). Greinke mixes up his five-pitch repertoire, throwing each at least 10 percent of the time.

The Yankees are sending out a solid lineup against Greinke today. The headliner is of course Aaron Judge, whose bat, scientists believe, is so hot that it is now generating energy via nuclear fusion. There are also some bats in the lineup today who have had considerable success against Greinke. Matt Carpenter has a career .323 average in 31 at-bats with a couple of dingers, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Anthony Rizzo both boast career averages above .400, albeit in small sample sizes.

Alright. It’s a beautiful day for a sweep. So let’s put some runs on Greinke, enjoy a solid start from Monty, and get ready for Seattle while the Yankees await some reinforcements.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 1:35 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES – NYY / Bally Sports Kansas City – KCR / MLBN (out of market only)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1280 / KSP 610

Online stream: MLB.tv

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