The top two teams in the AL East battle in New York as the Red Sox visit the Yankees. Drew Pomeranz takes on Masahiro Tanaka. Both won five games despite high ERAs. The real match-up might be the battle of youth, with Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi, and Mookie Betts representing Boston, and Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez on the Yankees side. All five players do an excellent job of getting on base, but it would appear that Sanchez and Judge give the Yankees a slight edge in power. Both teams have done a great job developing and acquiring young talent, so 2017 may be the start of a whole new group of rivals that could be fighting each other for many years.

In interleague action, the second place Indians take on the first place Rockies in Colorado with Mike Clevinger facing Antonio Senzatela. Clevinger upped his strikeout rate a little, lowered his walk rate a little, and became very tough to hit in his sophomore season. Opponents hit just .188 against him, although nine of the 19 hits he allowed went for extra bases. Senzatela owns a 5-1 record at home this season with a 3.00 ERA. He gives up some power at Coors, but with just 10 walks in 39 innings, those hits don’t do too much damage.

The major league pitching career of Dinelson Lamet is off to a good start as he leads the Padres against the Diamondbacks and Robbie Ray. Lamet struck out 16 in two starts covering ten innings. He is also showing good control as he walked just three batters. Ray is blowing away batters, too, with 85 K in 69 innings. He does have trouble at home with opponents have six of seven home runs against Ray, helping lift his ERA to 6.75 in Phoenix, versus 0.64 on the road.

Finally, the Nationals continue their series with the Dodgers as Max Scherzer takes on Brandon McCarthy. Scherzer leads the NL in strikeouts with 100, and most of the top K pitchers in the majors are showing good control this year. McCarthy reeled off three good starts in a row, allowing three runs total for a 1.69 ERA.

Enjoy!