New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles: Clarke Schmidt vs. Kyle Gibson

For eight total innings yesterday, things were good for the Bronx Bombers: Nestor Cortes was dealing, Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa lit up Baltimore pitching, and across those frames, they may have come away with a dominant 5-1 victory that set them up for the sweep. Unfortunately, Major League Baseball rules do not allow us to ignore the seventh inning, and because of this, the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles will instead face off in the rubber match between two of the American League’s top four teams.

Clarke Schmidt (2-4, 6.00 ERA, 4.39 FIP) gets the ball for the Yankees. Before you respond with “Oh Schmidt! Chalk this one up as a loss,” I’d like to point out that the young right-hander has looked much better of late. Seven of the 11 earned runs Schmidt have given up in the month of May came on the 14th against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he was tagged with seven runs across 4.2 innings of work; in his other three starts, he’s surrendered just four earned runs in 15.1 innings.

To counter, the Orioles will send out veteran Kyle Gibson (5-3, 4.27 ERA, 4.18 FIP), the 35-year-old right-hander signed to a one-year deal this past offseason to eat some innings for the young Baltimore staff. As his 100 ERA+ would indicate, he has been perfectly average this season, although as Jake noted in the series preview, his arsenal (a low-velocity fastball, an uninspiring sinker, and a sweeper prone to hanging) is one the Yankees offense is — hypothetically — designed to feast upon.

The top of the order tonight looks the same as it has in recent days, with Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge, and Anthony Rizzo filling out the top third. With DJ LeMahieu getting the night off, Harrison Bader bats cleanup for the first time this season, while Oswaldo Cabrera comes in from left to man the hot corner. Greg Allen makes the start in left, his first of the season, and the no-longer fictional Ben Rortvedt looks to create real production out of thin air from the catcher position.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES Network (NYY) / MASN (BAL)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1280 (NYY)

Online stream: MLB.tv, YES Network App

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