The Rangers come to town with Mike Mikolas (0-2, 10.05 ERA) taking on Shane Greene (2-0, 1.32 ERA) in the first game of four. Greene’s second Major League start was a good one, throwing 7 1/3 scoreless innings against Baltimore for his second win. He held the O’s to just four hits to his two walks while striking out nine to a 3-0 victory. “It was awesome, for sure,” said Greene. “It means a lot. It means a lot that I got the opportunity, and it means a lot that I can come up here and help the team win.”
Mikolas will be making his fourth Major League start. After a 5-2 loss to the Angels his last time out, he fell to 0-2 and his ERA jumped to 10.05. He began the season as a reliever in Triple-A before being called up to the rotation. “He had 68 pitches going into the sixth inning; he was throwing well,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “I pull him out right there, what do I have to do? Get four more innings out of my bullpen? No, he’s got to figure out a way to get through that.”
The Yankees enter this series coming off a three game sweep of the Reds, after entering that series on a season high five game home losing streak. “I think it’s everyone involved,” Joe Girardi said of their 21-23 home record. “It’s a team effort, because there’s gonna be days where pitchers struggle a little bit. They pick them up offensively, so I think it’s everyone. It’s gonna take everyone in that clubhouse to play better at home.”
Notes on the game
The Rangers are 2-14 in July and have the worst record in baseball at 39-59.
The Yankees’ pen leads the Majors with 352 strikeouts and 10.56 strikeouts per nine innings this season. Dellin Betances leads all AL relievers with 88.
First pitch at 7:05 pm on Yes and ESPN.
