The New York Yankees are looking to reverse course in the crowded American League wild-card race.
After losing seven of nine games, the Yankees stabilized by winning two of three games from the Minnesota Twins. Now they will try to gain momentum during a three-game road series against the St. Louis Cardinals beginning Friday night at Busch Stadium.
Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is questionable for this series due to a sprained right knee. The former Cardinals star had been looking forward to returning to St. Louis.
“I don’t think it’s anything long-term, so I think that’s good,” Goldschmidt said. “If it is a short-term thing, I feel really good about that.”
Goldschmidt has posted a solid .276/.331/.422 slash line after arriving in New York as a free agent. The Yankees will need more of that production as they try to make their playoff push.
“He’s been a huge part of this team,” Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger said. “He’s a vacuum over there at first base as well. I really appreciate what he does on the defensive side. For me, it’s the quality ABs; he’s a true professional in every single at-bat.”
The Yankees will open the series with Luis Gil (0-1, 7.27 ERA), who will make his third start since recovering from a high-grade lat strain.
Gil was solid in his last start while holding the Houston Astros to two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out seven batters and walked only one.
“He found some rhythm. He flirted with a few three-ball counts but for the most part was able to win those,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought he had a presence with everything. His fastball, changeup and slider were all important pitches for him.”
This will be Gil’s first career look at the Cardinals, who come into this series after losing two of three games to the lowly Colorado Rockies at home.
After delivering back-to-back strong performances – two runs allowed on six hits over 12 innings – starting pitcher Andrew Pallante (6-9, 4.95 ERA) retired just eight batters in his last outing. He will look to rebound against the Yankees.
Pallante allowed six runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings during a 9-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 9. Pallante struggled with his control throughout the 53-pitch outing.
“You look at a lot of the pitches and they were just thigh-high and the rest of them were non-competitive pitches out of the hand,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Which makes it tough because you can just eliminate and wait for something that you can do damage on.”
Pallante is trying to diversify his pitching mix on the fly during his transition to full-time starting pitching. His curveball was ineffective against the Cubs, he lacked command of his fastball, and he failed to get swings and misses with his slider.
“The way I’ve been really good to lefties is I’ve been pounding them with my fastball inside, and they’re starting to make that adjustment, starting to hit that pitch pretty well,” Pallante said. “So you know, for me, it becomes expanding my game, expanding my repertoire to something else I can do to offset.”
Pallante will be making his first career start against the Yankees. He has thrown 4 2/3 scoreless innings against them in two relief appearances.
The Cardinals expect to get first baseman Willson Contreras back in the lineup for this game. He missed Wednesday’s game with a bruised foot.
–Field Level Media
