New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox: Clarke Schmidt vs. Kutter Crawford

I’m fully convinced I’m tethered in some way or another to Clarke Schmidt. This seems like the 13th game of the year where I’m covering one of Clarky’s starts, which makes me think I’m something of an authority on his season. After never making it more than six innings at any point in his career, he’s done so twice in his last three starts, and if you drop that horrible outing against Atlanta, Schmidt’s running a 3.70 ERA since the start of June.

In his last start against the Red Sox, back on August 20th, Schmidt tied his season high with eight strikeouts in 5.2 innings, allowing a pair of runs. I think we’d all take a repeat performance, although as we’ve seen too frequently this season, the performance of the starter may not mean much if the offense brings their pool noodles to the plate.

Kutter Crawford has been one of those opposing pitchers who’s tormented the Yankee lineup, notching a win on August 19th with a six-inning, one-run effort. It hasn’t been a stellar year for Crawford on the topline stats, with a low strikeout rate and high fly ball rate, but his contact management has led to a decent enough xERA. Managing that contact is how he makes money, and throwing that out of balance is how an oft-underwhelming Yankee lineup can beat him.

Estevan Florial, called up this morning, finds himself in center field and batting ninth. Rookie Austin Wells is all the way up in the five hole and behind the plate.

Note: The Red Sox have already announced that the game will not start on time. So stay tuned for more information on when they could possibly start.

How to watch

Location: Fenway Park — Boston, MA

First pitch: 7:10 pm ET TBD

TV broadcast: Amazon Prime Video, NESN

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 / WEEI 93.7

Online stream: Amazon Prime Video / MLB.tv (out of market only)

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