Bosox Board

Rodriguez turned in his best outing since returning from a knee injury, throwing
six innings of two-run, four-hit ball against Kansas City.  The southpaw pitched to a
3.31 ERA against the Yankees last year, but he has not faced them in 2017.

Garcia will makes his second start as a Yankee on Friday, opening a three-game
series against the first-place Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.  Garcia took the loss in his
debut at Cleveland, allowing six runs (five earned) over 4 2/3 innings.

It's the Red Sox and the Yankees in the Bronx, and that in itself is enough to grab your attention. Now throw in that it's August, with the season approaching the home stretch. And on top of that, the old rivals stand first and second in the American League East, both in playoff position as a weekend series gets under way. This is going to be fun.

The weekend series starts with a pair of left-handers under the lights. Eduardo Rodriguez will go for the visitors against non-waiver Trade Deadline acquisition Jaime Garcia at 7:05 p.m. ET Friday in an MLB Network Showcase game. It's the first of six meetings in 10 days between the old rivals, who also play three games at Fenway Park just a week later.

Since the Yankees last led the AL East at the end of July, the two clubs have trended in opposite directions: The Yanks lost five of their first seven to begin August, while the Red Sox ride an eight-game winning streak into the Bronx, taking a 4 1/2-game advantage in the division into the series opener.

The Yankees, who hold a two-game lead for the first AL Wild Card spot, are 6-3 against the Red Sox in 2017, though, and hope to rekindle that success in New York.

"When you're behind a club, you start to run out of days that you can catch them," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "When you're playing head-to-head, you can, for sure, make up ground. I'm not surprised [Boston has played well]. When you look at it, they have a complete team."

To explain Boston's recent surge to the top of the division, look no further than the uptick in production from its arms.

"We've continued to pitch consistently, and that will be the key for us," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "The way that our starters are now stringing some games together, the run the bullpen has been on for really all year, and more so currently, we set the tone from the mound. And we're going to have to continue to do that as we go into this next series."
The Red Sox have allowed just eight runs in their last five games, all wins. They granted two runs in two games to the Rays, their first visit on a five-game trip to the ballparks of the two teams chasing closest in the division.

"Road games are big. It makes up half your schedule, so you've got to do some work on the road obviously," Rick Porcello said after Wednesday's win. "We've got a tough series coming up against New York, so coming in and taking two in this series and starting the road trip off like that is big. We have to keep it going against the Yankees, another tough opponent, another division rival. Just have to keep pushing forward."

Boston will need that success to continue, because the Yankees have stifled them in 2017: The Bronx Bombers have outscored the Sox 38-16 this year.

Aaron Judge will be a focal point. The Red Sox have stifled Judge better than any team in the AL, holding the slugger to a .194 average and .306 slugging percentage, with one home run and two RBIs in nine games. Judge has an AL-best 35 homers and .616 slugging percentage this season, with a .294 average.

"If you're not 100-percent locked in on your approach, if you're a little caught in-between on certain pitches or on location, you've got to be 100-percent all in," Judge said. "You've got to be at the top of your game. You've got to be focused on either the pitch or location or zone you're looking for. If you're caught in-between two zones, they'll go out there and they're going to pound the zone and attack you. It's just about being on your game."

As for Garcia, the veteran lefty has made his last three starts in three different uniforms, but he will finally find continuity and make his second Yankees appearance. His first game in pinstripes will follow a 4 2/3-inning Yankees debut in which he allowed five earned runs in Cleveland. A longtime National Leaguer, Garcia has never faced the Red Sox.

"We're facing a team where we can gain some ground," Todd Frazier said. "We're doing pretty well in the Wild Card, but our first main goal is to win the division. We've got plenty of time. For me personally, it's going to be my first series against Boston [with the Yankees]; I know it's going to be a fun time and a great atmosphere. I can't wait to put on a show for the fans. Hopefully we get on them early and often."

THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME

• Judge drew his 82nd walk of the year Wednesday, passing Charlie Keller for the Yankees rookie record. Judge is on pace to eventually surpass Ted Williams (107) for the all-time rookie record. Only five rookies in history have ever drawn 100 walks in a season, most recently Brooklyn's Jim Gilliam in 1953.

• Former Yankees infielder Eduardo Nunez will play on the other side of the New York-Boston rivalry for the first time. Nunez played parts of four seasons with the Yankees, stealing 48 bases and batting .267.

• Rodriguez has gotten more than half of his swings and misses with his four-seam fastball this season, and the bulk of those have come when he has gotten the ball up. Among pitchers with at least 300 four-seamers thrown to the upper third of the strike zone or above, Rodriguez's 17.6-percent swinging-strike rate ranks fifth.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170810247423096/sox-yanks-renew-rivalry-in-bronx-showdown/?game_pk=491820