MLB on Sling TV: Red Sox at Yankees on ESPN; regional action on Fox Sports Networks
Boston Red Sox (Wright 2-3, 1.67) at New York Yankees (Severino 0-4, 6.31), 8pm ET on ESPN
At 31 years of age, Steve Wright is enjoying what may prove to be a breakout season. The knuckleballer’s made five starts, going at least 6 innings every time, and finds himself with a 1.67 ERA. While the movement on his pitch has led to a lot of walks (15) and hit batsmen (3), it’s also made it tough to tee off on him, as he’s kept batters to just .278 home runs and 6.124 hits per 9 innings. Yeah, knuckleballers can be frustratingly streaky, but right now he’s got the hot hand, and even if his ERA jumped a full 2 runs – entirely possible, he’ll still be a valuable front-of-the-rotation guy for Boston.
Luis Severino was called up in September of last year and made quite a splash, making 11 starts totalling 62 ⅓ innings, with a 2.89 ERA and 8.1 K/9. This year? The 22-year-old has taken already lost 4 games, and surrendered 37 hits. He’s got just one Quality Start this season, and most recently got slapped around by the O’s, who got to him for 4 runs on 5 hits (2 homers) and 2 walks in 6 innings, as the Yankees fell 4-1. Even before that start, there was talk of Severino facing possible demotion, but his fastball still tops 95 and the Yankees think he just needs to slow things down and rely more on his secondary pitches. We’ll see.
And here’s the action from the FOX Sports regional networks across the land… (Starters, of course, subject to change)
Kansas City Royals (Volquez 3-2, 3.13) at Cleveland Indians (Tomlin 4-0, 3.13), 1:10pm ET on FOX Sports Kansas City & SportsTime Ohio
Milwaukee Brewers (Guerra 1-0, 6.00) at Cincinnati Reds (Lamb 0-0, 1.50), 1:10pm ET on FOX Sports Cincinnati & FOX Sports Wisconsin
Philadelphia Phillies (Nola 2-2, 2.92) at Miami Marlins (Nicolino 2-0, 2.70), 1:10pm ET on FOX Sports Florida
Texas Rangers (Perez 1-2, 3.60) at Detroit Tigers (Verlander 2-3, 6.49), 1:10pm ET on FOX Sports Detroit & FOX Sports Southwest
Arizona Diamondbacks (Corbin 1-3, 4.91) at Atlanta Braves (Foltynewicz 0-1, 9.82), 1:35pm ET on FOX Sports Arizona & FOX Sports South
Minnesota Twins (Duffey 0-1, 1.74) at Chicago White Sox (Quintana 4-1, 1.40), 2:10pm ET on FOX Sports North
Pittsburgh Pirates (Cole 2-3, 3.95) at St. Louis Cardinals (Wacha 2-2, 2.65), 2:15pm ET on FOX Sports Midwest
Tampa Bay Rays (Moore 1-3, 4.95) at Los Angeles Angels (Tropeano 1-1, 3.42), 3:35pm ET on Fox Sports Sun & FOX Sports West
New York Mets (Harvey 2-4, 4.76) at San Diego Padres (Cashner 2-2, 4.85), 4:40pm ET on FOX Sports San Diego