New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox: Nestor Cortes vs. Brayan Bello

ESPN was surely hoping that this late-season Yankees vs. Red Sox matchup would have bigger postseason ramifications when they put it on the schedule. Although a win would get the Yankees tantalizing close to clinching the AL East, today’s game still feels mostly about watching to see if Aaron Judge will get his 61st home run — if the Sox pitchers will throw him strikes, that is. Luckily for the ol’ worldwide leader, that’s still a solid pull for a national audience.

Judge is batting leadoff today and will be the DH, meaning that Giancarlo Stanton will not start for the first time since September 9th. Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are also on the bench today, giving the lineup a bit of a different look. Judge is followed by Anthony Rizzo at first and Gleyber Torres at second base in the lineup. Oswaldo Cabrera will play right and bat fourth, coming off his home run yesterday. Harrison Bader will bat fifth and play center, with Aaron Hicks sixth and in left. He’s followed by Jose Trevino at catcher, Marwin González at third, and Oswald Peraza at shortstop in a rare start for the rookie.

For the Sox, Kiké Hernandez will bat leadoff and play center field, followed by Tommy Pham in left, Xander Bogaerts at shortstop, J.D. Martinez at DH, Rob Refsnyder in right, Triston Cases at first base, Bobby Dalbec at third, Yu Chang at second, and Connor Wong catching.

Today’s starting pitching matchup is a rematch of the game on September 14th, which you may recall for Boston’s comedy of errors on defense that allowed a Little League homer to Torres. Cortes is coming off five solid enough innings against the Pirates in his last start, with one earned run and four strikeouts. He threw 87 pitches, so it seems as if he shouldn’t be on much of a pitch count, if any.

The rookie Bello got the win in his last start too, against the Cincinnati Reds. While he allowed eight hits over five innings, he limited the damage to one earned run and struck out five. In 11 games (9 starts), he has a 4.75 ERA, 2.98 FIP, and a 1.732 WHIP.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:08 pm ET

TV broadcast: ESPN

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1380

Online stream: MLB.tv

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