The New York Yankees shuffled their pitching rotation after their scheduled Friday night road game against the St. Louis Cardinals was rained out.
The Yankees will start Luis Severino (1-2, 5.25 ERA) in the opener of a day-night doubleheader at Busch Stadium. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the nightcap would be a bullpen game, featuring a 27th man to be added to the roster, and Gerrit Cole’s start would be moved from Saturday to Sunday.
The Cardinals will stick with Jack Flaherty (4-5, 4.95 ERA) in Game 1 and start Matthew Liberatore (1-2, 5.60) in Game 2.
Severino is coming off his best performance of the season. He threw six strong innings to earn the victory as the Yankees edged the Texas Rangers 1-0 on June 24.
“I thought he had good life on the fastball and his secondary (pitches) were better,” Boone said. “It still wasn’t perfect by any means, but he had a really good presence. Now it’s about getting to that next level of command, and hopefully he can really take off.”
Before that victory, Severino allowed 21 runs (19 earned) on 29 hits and nine walks in 18 2/3 innings over a span of four starts.
He will be opposing the Cardinals for the first time in his career.
Flaherty moves back into their rotation Saturday after he missed his scheduled start against the Chicago Cubs last weekend in London due to a sore right hip.
Flaherty earned an 8-6 victory at Washington on June 19 in his latest outing. He allowed five runs in the first two innings, then worked into the seventh inning.
“I’m always interested to see how someone responds when things aren’t going well,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Jack goes out there, gives up five, locks it and starts executing a lot better as the game went on and gave us a shot.”
Flaherty managed to block out the early 5-0 deficit and settle in.
“You just keep making pitches and understanding that the more you execute, the more good things will happen,” Flaherty said.
Even so, in his past two starts combined, Flaherty allowed 12 runs on 20 hits and four walks in 10 2/3 innings.
He will be making his first start against the Yankees, as will Liberatore.
Liberatore has met the quality start metric just once in six starts this season since his callup from Triple-A Memphis. He is coming off a rough start against the Cubs on Sunday in London, when he allowed four unearned runs on four hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings in the game the Cardinals ultimately won 7-5.
Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo is listed as day-to-day after getting hit in the left elbow with a pitch in the Thursday game against the Oakland Athletics. Boone said Rizzo was “still pretty stiff” on Friday but could be back on the field on Saturday.
The Cardinals made a bullpen adjustment ahead of the series, promoting James Naile from Triple-A Memphis as fellow right-hander Jake Woodford went on the injured list due to a shoulder strain.
Cardinals utility player Brendan Donovan was a late scratch from the posted Friday lineup due to soreness in his right (throwing) arm. Marmol said an MRI revealed no structural damage but that Donovan would be on a “no throw” plan for the time being. The manager added that Donovan could serve as the designated hitter or appear as a pinch hitter.
–Field Level Media
