After a week out west, the Yankees returned home on Tuesday for a series against the Guardians that could’ve gone better. The Yankees dropped the opening two games of the series, before eking out a 2-1 win in the finale. Looming over the proceedings is the fact that Aaron Judge is about to hit the injured list with a rib stress fracture that seems likely to keep him out of action until August at the absolute earliest.
However, now is not the time for the Yankees to wallow, as they’re set to welcome an old foe to town. Starting tonight, the Yankees will host the Red Sox in a three-game series in the Bronx. Boston has had a substandard season so far, and they just demoted the extended Brayan Bello after losing two out of three to the Orioles. But you know they’d love to rub the Yankees’ nose in it and beat them this weekend in the Bronx anyway. Note that they’re missing some familiar faces, as Garrett Crochet, Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, and Garrett Whitlock are all on the IL.
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Before things get going tonight, here’s a look at the probable pitchers for the next couple days.
Friday: Ryan Weathers vs. Sonny Gray (7:05 pm ET)
Following a couple nice starts in a row, Weathers had a down outing last weekend in Sacramento against the Athletics. His stuff still looked pretty decent, as he ended up striking out 10 batters, but he gave up three home runs to doom him to a subpar start. This will also be his first venture into the rivalry as a member of the Yankees, and also his first appearance in general versus Boston.
The former Yankee Gray was traded to Boston over the offseason, and has had a pretty good run of things so far. Since the beginning of May, he has a 2.00 ERA and a 2.73 FIP in 27 innings, having struck out 28 batters. He did not have much success in this rivalry while a member of the Yankees, but frankly there’s a lot about his time in New York that the Yankees could’ve handled better.
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Saturday: Will Warren vs. Ranger Suarez (7:35 pm ET)
In his last appearance, Warren was on the mound for that weird 13-8 win over the A’s last weekend. He gave up three runs that day, but all of them technically went down as unearned. Warren’s been pretty bad against the Red Sox for his career, though Boston hasn’t faced the 2026 version of Warren, which has been very successful. Warren has a 9.42 ERA against Boston in 14.1 innings, as Boston’s tee’d off to a tune of a 1.029 OPS.
Boston’s offseason acquisition in Suarez has numbers that grade out pretty well on the season as a whole, but he has been a bit up and down. Of late, he’s been down, as he’s been gotten for nine runs in 10 combined innings over his last two starts. On the other hand, he allowed just one in 21.2 innings over the three starts prior to that.
Sunday: Cam Schlittler vs. Connelly Early (1:35 pm ET)
Last time out, Schlittler had arguably the worst start of his young career so far against Cleveland. The Guardians got him for four runs in just 4.1 innings earlier this week. The good news is, the last time he took the mound in a headline game against the Red Sox in the Bronx, he was pretty good.
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Opposite Schlittler will be the same man who opposed him in that Wild Card Series Game 3: Connelly Early. Much was made of the rookie vs. rookie matchup that day, and Schlittler decisively won it, although Early wasn’t a total disaster. Honestly, his defense betrayed him in the four-run fourth inning more than anything else. He’s also been pretty decent so far this year, although he has given up six home runs over his last four games.
