Aaron Judge is likely out until August at the earliest, and the red sox - yankees series opened Friday night in the Bronx with the Yankees trying to absorb that blow. New York had just won the finale of its series against the Guardians, 2-1, before turning to a three-game home set against Boston.
Judge's rib fracture
Judge was about to hit the injured list with a rib stress fracture, leaving the Yankees to navigate the first stretch of this rivalry without their outfielder for an extended period. The timing matters because New York entered the series after dropping the first two games against Cleveland, then scraping out a 2-1 win to stop that skid.
Friday's matchup put Ryan Weathers against Sonny Gray at 7:05 pm ET. Weathers struck out 10 batters in his previous start but also allowed three home runs, and he was making his first appearance against Boston.
Gray returns to Bronx
Gray brought a different kind of angle to the opener. Traded to Boston over the offseason, he had produced a 2.00 ERA and a 2.73 FIP in 27 innings since the beginning of May, with 28 strikeouts in that span.
Boston arrived in New York having lost two of three to the Orioles, and the Red Sox were also missing Garrett Crochet, Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, and Garrett Whitlock on the injured list. That left the visiting club short-handed for a three-game series that still offered a clean look at where both rotations stood heading into the weekend.
Saturday and Sunday arms
Saturday's game was set for 7:35 pm ET with Will Warren opposing Ranger Suarez. Warren had a 9.42 ERA against Boston in 14.1 innings, while the Red Sox had posted a 1.029 OPS against him in his career.
Sunday's finale at 1:35 pm ET matched Cam Schlittler with Connelly Early. Suarez had allowed nine runs in 10 combined innings over his last two starts after giving up one run in 21.2 innings across the three starts before that stretch, while Schlittler allowed four runs in 4.1 innings in his previous start against Cleveland.
Early already faced Schlittler in Wild Card Series Game 3 against the Yankees, giving the series finale a familiar matchup even as New York spent the weekend trying to cover for Judge's absence.
