New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians Match Preview

The New York Yankees (7-11) and Cleveland Indians (8-9) will once again do battle on Friday as they play the second of a four-game series. The Indians will host this one from Progressive Field, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm ET.

The Yankees were able to take game one of the series on Thursday, 6-3. In the win, Domingo German went six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) and striking out six. Catcher Kyle Higashioka went two for four with his third home run of the season.

Aaron Civale pitched well for the Indians, going just over five innings and allowing three runs (two earned). Unfortunately, his bullpen couldn’t hold it as Nick Wittgren was charged with the loss.

In Friday’s matchup, the Yankees are the favorites despite playing on the road. They are -138 to win while the Indians’ moneyline sits at +118. The runline features Cleveland +1.5, and the over/under for total runs is eight.

Pitching Matchup

The Yankees will send Jordan Montgomery (1-1, 4.24) to the mound Friday. In his last start, a 6-3 loss to the Rays, he went six innings allowing four runs and striking out seven. He will look for a better outing on Friday.

The Indians will counter with Logan Allen (1-2, 4.50 ERA). He took the loss in his last outing against the Reds. In that game, he went just two innings allowing five runs (three earned). The Indians will need a significantly better outing if they want to take care of the Yankees.

By The Numbers

Offensively, neither of these teams are producing very many runs. The Indians rank 24th in scoring averaging 3.88 runs per game. The Yankees rank 27th averaging 3.47.

Defensively, it is once again the Indians who hold the advantage. They rank sixth in the majors allowing opponents just 3.75 runs per game. The Yankees rank eighth, allowing 4.06 runs.

Yankees Trying To Gain Momentum

There is no doubt that this isn’t the start that the Yankees wanted to the season, but at +100, there is still a lot of belief that the division is ultimately theirs to lose. Currently sitting in last in the A.L. East, the Bronx Bombers are hoping to get some momentum going against a tough Indians team.

In the win on Thursday, the Yankees had to be happy to see Gleyber Torres pick up a trio of hits. A three-for-five performance raised his batting average to .219/.315/.250. While still nowhere close to where they are hoping it will be by season’s end, it was a nice start to getting back on track for their young shortstop.

It will be interesting to see if, at any point, the Yankees start going to Kyle Higashioka behind the dish with more regularity. Despite just a third of the bats, he has more home runs (three versus two) than Gary Sanchez and has a much better average (.353 versus .200).

Indians Hope To Keep Up In Division

Luckily for the Indians, the A.L. Central is still relatively bunched up. At 8-9, they sit just a couple of games behind the Royals for first place and a half-game behind the White Sox for the second place. Trying to bounce back from Thursday’s loss, they will look for a win Friday to help stay in the thick of the division standings.

On Thursday, second baseman Cesar Hernandez had a nice game going three for five with a run scored. The Indians would love to see him get going in the two-hole in the lineup as he is currently hitting just .200/.307/.277 with a home run and three runs batted in.

Franmil Reyes continued a decent start to the season Thursday by hitting a triple and driving in a run in a one-for-four performance. The designated hitter is now hitting .271/.313/.559 with four home runs and ten runs batted in.

Offense Will Be Key To Victory

Unfortunately, the need for more offense will probably be a common trend for the Indians this season. Even though their pitching gave up six runs on Thursday, most nights their arms will keep them in the game. It is up to the offense to find a way to win games.

The Indians will hope to even up the series on Friday by getting to Yankees’ starter Jordan Montgomery early. Additionally, if the Indians hope to win, they are going to need a much better outing out of Logan Allen than in his last start.