The New York Yankees play host to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday evening from Yankee Stadium. The 2022 edition of the rivalry has been as exciting as ever, especially after Friday night’s series opener, which Boston took in extra innings. The Red Sox have won three of five on the season so far and while the Yankees look like they’ll never let go of their grip on the division, Boston has remained competitive. To win two in a row will be a massive challenge and being at home, the Yankees will like their chances to even up the series.
After Friday's exciting extra-inning win, the Red Sox will be looking to clinch the weekend series on Saturday night against their divisional rival. While they sit back in the standings by quite a bit and haven't been the most elite group this season, they still have won three of five against the Yankees this season. It's been a rough go of things the last few weeks, as they've only gone 3-7 across their last ten games and have fallen back into fourth place in the AL East standings. With the All-Star game quickly approaching, this team knows that closing out the weekend strong is crucial to try to close the gap in the Wild Card race and get that confidence back that they had a few weeks ago.
From an injury standpoint, it's easy to see why Boston has struggled. Their pitching has been impacted by a number of injuries and they are without seven starters and four relievers as the weekend progress, whi ch isn't ideal. Beyond that, Trevor Story (hand) is day-to-day and Christian Arroyo (groin) remains out, which could be two major blows to the lineup.
WHAT A GAME!
FINAL (11): #RedSox 5, Yankees 4#DirtyWater pic.twitter.com/fMJnT58NJu
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 16, 2022
According to MLB.com, Nick Pivetta will get the ball for the Red Sox as he looks to help the Sox grab the win. The righty has had an up and down season so far this year, with an 8-6 record and 4.08 ERA, though has struggled of late. Two starts ago, he allowed seven runs to the Rays, while the Yankees made quick work of him just last weekend. Across 3.1 innings of action, he allowed six runs, as he aims to improve quickly on that performance.
Having one of baseball's best offenses does help the pitching woes and considering how New York has looked this season, Boston needs all the support in the lineup that they can get. They rank in the top ten in baseball in nearly every offensive category, topping out at third at batting average. The only dropoff from last season has seemed to come in the home run department. Over the last week, a handful of hitte rs are batting over .300 and while the wins haven't been coming, ot hasn't been for lack of offense within the lineup.