NEW YORK YANKEES NOTES:
AT A GLANCE: The Yankees continue their seven-game road trip tonight with the first game of a three-game set at Cincinnati (through Sun.)…are 3-1 on the road trip after winning three-of-four games at Toronto this week…after an off day on Monday, will begin a six-game homestand vs. Baltimore (Tues.-Thurs.) and San Diego (5/26-28).
Have won three of their last four games, five of their last seven games and eight of their last 11 games.
Are 11-5 (.688) in their last 16 games (since 5/2), the best record in the AL and the second-best record in the Majors in that span, trailing only Los Angeles-NL (11-4, .733).
Have won or split four of their last five series (since 5/1) and 10 of their 14 series this season (going 8-4-2).
Are 15 days into a 17-day stretch (5/5-21) without an off day (9-5 so far)…are also in a 34-day stretch with just one off day (4/18-5/21).
YESTERDAY’S NEWS: The Yankees defeated the Blue Jays, 4-2, on Thursday at Rogers Centre to clinch a series win… LHP Nestor Cortes (6.0IP, 5H, 2ER, 1BB, 6K, 1HR) started and earned his fourth win of the season…DH Aaron Judge (2-for-4, 1R, 1 double, 1HR, 2RBI) hit a two-run HR in the first inning…LF Aaron Hicks (3-for-4, 1 double, 1RBI) recorded a season-high 3H and drove in a run with an RBI single in the seventh inning…SS Anthony Volpe (1-for-2, 1R, 1HR, 1RBI, 1BB, 1HP) reached base three times and hit his seventh HR of the season with a solo shot in the ninth inning…2B Gleyber Torres (2-for-5, 1R) recorded a multi-hit game… 1B Anthony Rizzo (0-for-4) and 3B DJ LeMahieu (0-for-4) had their season-high 15-game on-base streaks snapped… RHP Ryan Weber (1.0IP, 1H, 1BB) tossed a scoreless seventh inning…RHP Albert Abreu (1.0IP, 2K) tossed a perfect eighth inning…RHP Ron Marinaccio (1.0IP) tossed a perfect ninth inning to record his first career save.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: INF Anthony Volpe hit his seventh HR of the season on Thursday at Toronto with a solo shot in the ninth inning…has 4HR in his last nine games.
Has reached base in 14 of his last 17 starts (since 4/30) and 28 of his last 33 starts.
His 7HR this season third-most among Major League rookies this season, trailing only Los Angeles-NL’s James Outman (9HR) and Texas’ Josh Jung (8HR).
Has 9RBI in his last nine games.
FOUR SCORE: The Yankees are 22-5 this season when scoring at least 4R.
PITCH PERFECT: The Yankees posted a 1.73 ERA (36.1IP, 7ER) during their four-game set at Toronto.
CALENDAR DAYS: The Yankees have hit 33HR in 17 games during the month of May, the most in the AL and tied for the most in the Majors in that span (also St. Louis and Atlanta – 33HR)…also rank third in May in runs scored (93) and fourth in SLG (.475).
HICKSY STICKS: OF Aaron Hicks recorded a season-high 3H on Thursday at Toronto, his most in a game since 9/28/22 at Toronto…is batting .400/.500/.733 (6-for-15) with 4R, 2 doubles, 1HR, 4RBI and 3BB in his last six games (since 5/7).
ON A ROLL: INF Gleyber Torres is batting .300 (6-for-20) with 2R, 2RBI, 1BB and 1SF over his last five games.
Has reached base in 23 of his last 27 games (since 4/20) and 26 of his last 31 games (since 4/15).
LEMACHINE: INF DJ LeMahieu had his season-high 15- game on-base streak (4/30-5/17) snapped on Thursday… was his longest on-base streak since a 15-game streak from 4/12-29/22…batted .291 (16-for-55) with 7R, 2 doubles, 2HR, 7RBI and 7BB over that stretch.
Since 2015, has hit .340/.418/.500 (32-for-94) with 25R, 9 doubles, 2HR, 14RBI, 12BB, 2HP, 2SF and 2SB in 23 games vs. the Reds.
ALL RISE: OF Aaron Judge hit a two-run HR in the first inning on Thursday at Toronto…seven of his 12 home runs this season have given the Yankees the lead…since the start of 2019, 73 of his 149HR have tied the game (14) or given the Yankees the lead (59).
Has 6HR in his last six games…match the most by a Yankee in a six-game span since 2008.
Has hit safely in each of his last six games (since 5/13), batting .391/.517/1.217 (9-for-23) with 6R, 1 double, 6HR, 12RBI, 6BB/2IBB and 1SB.
The Yankees have gone 152-50 in his career when he homers…since 2020, the Yankees are 80-21 in those games.
His 232 career HR are the most by any Major League player through his first 765 career games (previous:Ryan Howard-227HR).
Has 12RBI in his last six games…has recorded 14RBI in 10 games since returning from the I.L. (since 5/9).
Is hitting .353/.476/.941 (12-for-34) with 9R, 2 doubles, 6HR, 12RBI, 8BB/2IBB and 1SB in his last nine games (since 5/10).
Ranks third in the Majors in SLG (.612, first in AL), tied for fourth in HR (12, tied for second in AL) and fifth in OPS (.993, third in AL).
BRONX BOMBERS: The Yankees have hit 67HR this season, the second-most home runs in the AL and the fourth-most in the Majors.
Have hit multiple HR in six of their last seven games (since 5/12), 10 of their last 12 games (since 5/7) and 12 of their last 16 games (since 5/2).
Have hit 16HR in their last 7G and 27HR in their last 12G.
Have recorded at least eight hits in six of their last seven games and 14 of their last 16G.
Have scored 76R in their last 12 games (since 5/7), averaging 6.33 runs per game in that span…scored 133R in their first 34 games of the season from 3/30-5/6 and averaged 3.91 runs per game over that span.
Have scored at least 6R in nine of their last 12 games (since 5/7).
PEN PALS: RHP Ron Marinaccio recorded his first career save on Thursday at Toronto…the Yankees have had six different pitchers record a save this season, the most in the Majors (next: Tampa Bay and Los Angeles-NL with five)…RHP Clay Holmes (4SV), RHP Michael King (3V), LHP Wandy Peralta (3SV), RHP Deivi García (1SV), RHP Ian Hamilton (1SV) and RHP Ron Marinaccio (1SV) have each recorded at least one save for the Yankees this season.
MEMORY LANE: At a news conference on 6/3/03 prior to the Yankees’ first-ever game at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark, Derek Jeter was named Yankees team captain.
NOBODY BEATS THE RIZZ: INF Anthony Rizzo has hit 34 career home runs vs. the Cincinnati Reds, his most home runs vs. any club in his career…his 34HR are tied with Andrew McCutchen for the most among active players vs. the Reds.
His 22HR at Great American Ball Park are the third-most by a visiting player, trailing only Ryan Braun (28HR) and Lance Berkman (23).
Had his season-high 15-game on-base streak snapped on Thursday (5/1-17)…had batted .339/.426/.576 (20- for-59) with 14R, 2 doubles, 4HR, 10RBI, 8BB and 1HP over that stretch…was his longest on-base streak since a 17-game streak with the Cubs from 4/28-5/17/21.
Has reached base in 19 of his last 21 games and 38 of his 44 games this season.
Is batting .303/.381/.514 (43-for-142) with 24R, 6 doubles, 8HR, 19RBI, 13BB and 5HP in his last 37 games (since 4/9).
Has multiple hits in five of his last 10 games (since 5/8), batting .333/.409/.615 (13-for-39) with 10R, 2 doubles, 3HR, 8RBI, 4BB and 1HP in that span…also has multiple hits in seven of his last 15G (since 5/2).
Has 6RBI in his last six games (since 5/12).
Has hit safely in 12 of his last 15G and 16 of his last 21G.
Five of his last seven hits have been XBH (2 doubles, 3HR).
TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP CLARKE SCHMIDT (1-4, 6.30 ERA)
RHP Clarke Schmidt will make his 10th start of the season in tonight’s series opener at Cincinnati…the 27-year-old will make the start on regular four days’ rest…made his ninth start of the season on Sunday vs. Tampa Bay, recording his fourth loss of the season after allowing a career-high 7R/ER (4.2IP, 6H, 3BB, 5K, 0HR, 1WP)…has tossed at least 4.0 innings in each of his last five starts after doing so just once in his first four starts this season…struck out Ezequiel Durán (swinging) in the fifth inning on 4/28 at Texas for his 100th career strikeout…made his second career Opening Day roster in 2023 (also 2022)…in 2022, went 5-5 with two saves and a 3.12 ERA (57.2IP, 46H, 23R/20ER, 23BB, 56K, 5HR) in 29 appearances (three starts) over four stints with the Yankees…in three starts, went 0-2 with a 4.63 ERA (11.2IP, 13H, 6ER, 2BB, 14K, 0HR)… as a reliever, went 5-3 with two saves and a 2.74 ERA (46.0IP, 33H, 17R/14ER, 21BB, 42K, 5HR) in 26 games…tossed at least 2.0 innings in 13 of his relief appearances and at least 3.0 innings in five of those relief appearances…was selected by the Yankees in the first round (16th overall) of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of South Carolina.
LAST TIME OUT: Made his ninth start of the season on Sunday vs. Tampa Bay, recording his fourth loss of the season after allowing a career-high 7R/ER (4.2IP, 6H, 3BB, 5K, 0HR, 1WP)…exited the game with the bases loaded and the game tied 4-4…RHP Albert Abreu came on in relief and surrendered a grand slam to Taylor Walls…matched his career high with 3BB (fifth time, second this season: 4/7 at Baltimore).
VS. CINCINNATI/INTERLEAGUE: Will be making his first career appearance against the Reds…has made two career relief appearance vs. the NL Central (6/10/22 vs. Chicago-NL and 9/18/22 at Milwaukee), allowing 2ER over 4.1IP (3H, 1BB/1IBB, 4K, 1HR).
Is 1-1 with a 4.74 ERA (19.0IP, 10ER) and 15K in six career Interleague games (three starts)…made his season debut on 4/1 vs. San Francisco (ND, 3.1IP, 5H, 3ER, 1BB, 5K, 2HR).
Posted a 1-0 record with a 2.45 ERA (7.1IP, 2ER) and 4K in three relief appearances vs. the National League in 2022 (6/10 vs. Chicago-NL, 8/23 vs. New York-NL, 9/18 at Milwaukee).
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Has made 22 appearances (six starts) in his career on the road (three in 2023, 16 in 2022, one in 2021, two in 2020)… has gone 3-5 with one save and a 5.08 ERA (51.1IP, 61H, 34R/29ER, 22BB, 53K, 5HR).
Is 0-1 with an 8.76 ERA (12.1IP, 12ER) and 14K in three starts on the road this season…made starts on 4/7 at Baltimore (3.1IP, 5H, 4ER, 3BB, 3K), 4/12 at Cleveland (4.0IP, 6H, 3ER, 1BB, 3K, 1HR) and 4/28 at Texas (5.0IP, 10H, 5ER, 1BB, 8K, 1HR, 1HP).
In 16 games (two starts) on the road in 2022, went 3-4 with one save and a 3.62 ERA (32.1IP, 30H, 15R/13ER, 11BB, 34K, 2HR)…allowed 2R-or-fewer in 14 of those games, 1R-or-fewer in 12 of those appearances and nine were scoreless. 2023: Has made nine starts this season, going 1-4 with a 6.30 ERA (40.0IP, 52H, 33R/28ER, 14BB, 48K, 8HR)…has tossed at least 4.0IP in each of his last five starts after doing so just once in his first four starts this season.
Has surrendered just 1HR over his last three starts (including 0HR in two of those starts) after allowing at least 1HR in five of his first six starts of the season (7HR total).
In his eighth start of the season on 5/9 vs. Oakland, earned his first win of the season after allowing just 2ER over a career-high 6.0IP (5H, 2BB, 7K, 1HR, 1WP)…marked his first career win as a starter…reached 100.0 career innings in the first inning.
Recorded a career-high-tying 8K in back-to-back starts on 4/23 vs. Toronto and 4/28 at Texas.
Made his second career Opening Day roster.
FOR STARTERS: Will be making his 15th career start…over his first 14 career Major League starts (nine in 2023, three in 2022, one in 2021, one in 2020), is 1-7 with a 5.85 ERA (60.0IP, 76H, 47R/39ER, 21BB, 68K, 9HR)…has tossed at least 5.0IP in three of his last five starts after not doing so in his first nine career starts. Is 1-4 with a 6.30 ERA (40.0IP, 28ER) and 48K in nine starts in 2023…tossed a career-high 6.0IP on /9 vs. Oakland…recorded a career-high-tying 8K on 4/23 vs. Toronto and 4/28 at Texas.
Went 0-2 with a 4.63 ERA (11.2IP, 6ER) and 14K in his three starts in 2022 (6/16 vs. Tampa Bay, 8/28 at Oakland, 9/3 at Tampa Bay).
CINCINNATI REDS NOTES:
RED HOTS
- Tonight the Reds are debuting their City Connect uniforms…in recognition of Armed Forces Weekend, tomorrow and Sun uniformed personnel will honor our nation’s military by wearing special hats and socks.
- This series is the fifth ever in which sons of Major League managers will face each other as Major League managers…NYY’s Aaron Boone (Bob) vs NYM’s Luis Rojas (Felipe Alou) in 2020 & 2021…Cin’s David Bell (Buddy) vs Rojas in 2021 and vs Boone in 2022 at Yankee Stadium…
TONIGHT’S GAME
- Is Game 1 of a 3-game series vs Aaron Boone’s Yankees and Game 1 of a 7-game homestand that includes a 4-game series vs the Cardinals.
- The Reds are coming off a 3-3 road trip to Mia’s loanDepot park (2-1) and Col’s Coors Field (1-2).
- Following this homestand, the Reds hit the road again for 3-game series in the two oldest ballparks in the Major Leagues, Chc’s Wrigley Field (1914) and Bos’ Fenway Park (1912).
SERIES NOTES
- The Redlegs are 10-12 all-time vs NYY, including 4-4 at Great American Ball Park, and 4-3 in 7 season series.
- The Reds and Yankees are meeting for the second consecutive season.
- The Reds earned a 2-1 series win last July at Yankee Stadium.
- Is Cin’s first ever home weekend series vs NYY.
- Is Aaron Boone’s first visit here as Yankees manager…Boone was selected by the Reds in the third round of the 1994 draft…over 7 seasons from 1997- 2003 he hit .271 in 668 apps for Cin before he was traded to the Yankees on 7/31/2003 for LHP Brandon Claussen and LHP Charlie Manning.
- During the Yankees’ visit to Cincinnati on 6/3/2003, Hall of Famer Derek Jeter was named the team’s 11th captain.
- The teams met in 3 World Series, including Yankees wins in 1939 (4-0) and 1961 (4-1) and the Big Red Machine’s 4-0 sweep in 1976.
- Before the interleague schedule expanded this season to include games vs all 15 American League teams, from 1997-2022 the Redlegs went 188-
247 vs the American League, at .432 the lowest interleague winning percentage of any Major League team…in 2022 the Reds went 12-8 vs AL teams (0-2 vs Cle, 2-0 at Cle, 1-2 at Tor, 1-1 at Bos, 3-0 vs TB, 2-1 at NYY, 2-1 vs Bal, 1-1 vs Bos)…last season’s was their first winning record vs the American League since 2013 (11-9)…in the 8 seasons Between the 2013 & 2022 season series wins, the Reds went 61-99 vs AL teams (.381).
CARDINALS UP NEXT
- Beginning Monday night, the Reds and Cardinals will meet for the first time this season.
- In 2022, the Cardinals won 12 of the 19 games and 5 of the 6 series.
- The Cardinals’ .506 winning percentage at Great American Ball Park (85-83) is the highest among NL Central Division opponents.
Tonight’s Pitcher – #59 Ben Lively, RHP
- Tonight is making his third appearance and first start for the Reds…will be his first career appearance vs the Yankees.
- Will be his first Major League start since 4/26/18 for Phi vs Ari.
- Last pitched in Mon’s 9-8 loss at Col…with the score tied at 6-6 entered the game in the fifth inning in relief of starter Hunter Greene…retired 7 of his 8 hitters, the only hit an infield single…was charged with the tie-breaking run scored with 2 outs off Lucas Sims.
- Made his Reds debut in the second inning of the 5-0 win on 5/11 vs NYM…relieved spot starter Derek Law and threw 3.0 scoreless innings, tied for the longest appearance by a Reds reliever this season…was his first Major League appearance since 4/28/19 for KC vs LAA, his only appearance of that season, and his first win since his last appearance of the 2017 season (9/27/19 for Phi vs NYM).
- Was a non-roster invitee to 2023 Major League spring training camp.
- Joined the Reds on 5/9, when RHP Luis Cessa was designated for assignment.
- Originally was selected by the Reds in the fourth round of the June 2013 first-year player draft…the next season received the Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award as the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year
