New York Yankees vs. Pittsburgh Pirates: Ryan Weathers vs. Braxton Ashcraft

Tonight is the hundredth game of the Yankees’ season. Appropriately for a team exiting the All-Star Break, they will continue their homestand by facing their third consecutive National League team. The Dodgers took two of three against the Yankees, as is their habit against, well, most teams, to be frank. Now New York prepares for a three-game set with a team which is no World Series favorite, but is no slouch either: the Pittsburgh Pirates.

These Pirates aren’t the same walkovers of the past few seasons; it appears they’re finally starting to put things together under first-year manager Don Kelly. The Bucs are tied with the Cardinals for third place in the NL Central, sitting four games over .500. I was told the small market teams simply can’t compete, but here’s one of them making noise in the NL playoff hunt. They’ve got a bit of a top-heavy lineup, but it’s packed with a good combo of contact and power; youth and experience.

Ryan Weathers will be the man to face these Allegheny County upstarts, after his scheduled start against the Dodgers was rained out on Saturday. Weathers has navigated his own struggles while also dealing with poor infield defense behind him and routinely bad run support. Both were obstacles he nonetheless navigated well in a 5.1-inning effort against Washington to close out the first half. Additionally, as Jeff Middleton pointed out in our series preview, the Pirates represent a potentially advantageous matchup for him: they’ve struggled to a 71 wRC+ against left-handed pitching away from PNC Park.

Paul Skenes is the obvious star of their pitching staff (the Yankees won’t see him this series), but he’s not devoid of help in the rotation this year. Braxton Ashcraft has been his most capable co-star, pitching to a 3.49 ERA across 19 starts. Ashcraft replaced Skenes in the All-Star Game but also didn’t pitch—this will be his first work since the break. He features high-90s heat and two excellent breaking balls: a curve that batters whiff on 40 percent of the time as well as a slider that averages low-90s velocity and bends away from righties.

By the way, just wanted to show this off. Baseball Savant recently released a new player comparison tool, and I think it’s pretty neat! Here’s a look at one of those comparisons with tonight’s starters. Note Ashcraft’s scary 96th-percentile chase rate; maintaining discipline against this righty will be a daunting task.

I know this is not going to be a popular sentence, but the Yankees’ lineup tonight is probably the best they can muster with their current roster—yes, even with Austin Wells catching. He’s batting eighth ahead of José Caballero, who will serve as sort of a double-leadoff hitter. As an occasional double-leadoff hitter for my rec league softball team, I know how valuable that can be.

Anyway, the actual leadoff hitter is Trent Grisham, who has continued to be this team’s heartbeat at the dish. Ben Rice hits second and gets the DH spot, with Paul Goldschmidt hitting third. Cody Bellinger will hit cleanup, as he looks to finally end a power outage which has lasted over a month. Late-night hero Jazz Chisholm Jr. bats fifth, while Jasson Domínguez bats sixth and plays right field. Ryan McMahon will play third and bat seventh ahead of Wells and Caballero.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, SportsNet Pittsburgh

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280; Sports Radio 93.7 KDKA The Fan (PIT)

Online stream: MLB.tv

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.