Yankees vs. Royals Game Preview: Big Mike for the sweep

It's been a few weeks since the Yankees were looking at the possibility of a sweep (and not being on the losing side of one), but no matter what happens today, they'll at least get their first series win since May 10th against the Orioles. Interestingly, May 10th is also when Michael Pineda pitched a hell of a game, striking out 16 Orioles. In his last two starts, he hasn't fared nearly as well. He got tagged for four earned runs last time up against the Rangers, and he gave up five earned runs, and only got one strikeout during his last outing against the Royals. Despite two bad starts in a row, Pineda still has a 9.21 K/9 and has only walked four batters (!) through 57.2 innings pitched.

Pineda will face Chris Young, the same matchup as the last series against the Royals. He bested the Yankees on May 15th, allowing just one run through 5.2 innings in a game that the Royals went on to win. Then he improved upon that performance in his last start against the Cardinals, completely shutting them down through six innings. He's only allowed three earned runs through 34.2 IP this year. The Yankees recent struggles had to do with poor performances from both the pitching and the offense, but the offense really came alive on Monday, and followed that up with five runs yesterday, so hopefully that's a sign of things to come.

Today's game will start at 1:05 on account of the fact that it's a getaway day. It'd be nice to wrap up this series with a sweep before heading out to the West Coast for a four-game series against the Athletics, followed by a three-game series against the Mariners.