Editor’s note: As a reminder of yesterday’s post, Pinstripe Alley will be going dark after 5pm ET today while we transition to a new site layout. We will not have a recap for this game, but the comments will be working for this thread to keep the discussion going even after the final out. See you tomorrow morning!
Hopefully, the Yankees left South Beach with a fire lit under them. Coming off three bad losses which took radically different forms from one another, it would behoove the now-third-place Bombers to show a couple different forms of winning as they head to Arlington for a date with the 2023 World Series champs.
The Rangers are probably entering this series a little ticked off too. Texas just dropped three of four games in a pivotal weekend series with the Mariners, with whom they are engaged in a fight for ground in the division and the Wild Card race. Two of those losses came by just a single run, too, so if a few things broke differently, it may have been them coming off taking three of four from their rival. Which team will be able to channel their frustrations more productively starting tonight? We don’t want to think about it, but we must acknowledge the possibility that a Rangers sweep would vault them past the Yankees and—barring unlikely dominance of Seattle by the White Sox—put New York out of playoff position for the first time all year.
The Yankees will send ol’ reliable Max Fried to the bump for the opener to act as the stopper…yet again. Fried surrendered four runs last time out against the Rays, which on the surface appears to be a continuation of his recent struggles, but not so. Two of those runs were unearned, and Fried lobbied Aaron Boone to remain in the game on the precipice of seven complete innings. He didn’t quite get there, but he pitched a whale of a game, striking out nine. The rocky season debut of Luis Gil spotted Fried a fifth day of rest, which should help him out given the career-high 111 pitches he threw in that start.
Fried will be opposed by 36-year old veteran Patrick Corbin. While Corbin’s body of work over the final four years of his contract in Washington could charitably be considered below average, Yankees fans saw a preamble of the decent resurgence to come when he neutralized Bomber bats over six scoreless innings on August 27th.
Last year, Corbin debuted a cutter to try and mix up his repertoire and reduce the exposure to his sinker and slider. It’s worked. This year, he’s second on the Rangers in innings pitched with 109.2 and has a 3.78 ERA and 4.00 FIP over that workload. Considering the 5.62 ERA he posted after his first year in DC from 2020-24, Texas is probably ecstatic with that level of production, especially given the fact he was signed in mid-March for a little over $1 million.
The Rangers are a team that doesn’t hit a ton, but they can usually rely on their pitching staff to keep things close. Texas’ hurlers have pitched to a league-leading 3.28 ERA, and have allowed 399 runs overall, the fewest in baseball. In terms of value, they trail only the Phillies and in-state rival Astros by FanGraphs WAR. And while their lineup is shallow and currently a bit shorthanded, they still have the outstanding Corey Seager, who posted an OPS above 1.000 across the month of July—atop their order.
We’ll see you on the other side of the site transition! Go Yankees.
How to watch
Location: Globe Life Field – Arlington, TX
First pitch: 8:05 pm ET
TV broadcast: YES, Rangers Sports Network, Victory+
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280; 105.3 The Fan, KFLC 1270
Online stream: MLB.tv
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