How will Gerrit Cole fare tonight for Yankees against Rays?

There’s no getting around how grisly the Yankees’ offense is right now, outside of a resurgent Ben Rice. They struck out 17 times for the second night in a row and set a team record with 34 K’s across a two-game span. Yikes! Even though there were more hits than the lineup had come by in previous days, it still made for a tough watch — and it’s part of a wider trend across the past couple weeks.

A quick fix is not really available right now for the starting nine; right now, they just have to power through to the All-Star break over the next five days and just try to not look so much like Swiss cheese. So in the meantime, I’m putting my attention to the man on the mound tonight: Gerrit Cole.

The Yankees actually did win the initial game of this series on Monday despite the first 17 K’s because Cam Schlittler was magnificient in eight innings. Now, I’m not expecting that from Cole, but I think it’s reasonable to hope for something between that and Will Warren’s six-run, three-homer stinker on Tuesday. And Cole did win his last start on Friday against the Twins, snapping a seven-game losing streak with five innings of two-run ball, striking out seven.

Was it a bit of a grind? No question, and the mid-start rain delay did not help matters. Nonetheless, Cole found his way through it to deliver the Yankees a win. Now, they’ll look for him to do the same at the Trop, covered from the threat of weather but facing another tricky lineup. The Yankees will need a road start better than his most recent efforts in Boston (5.1 IP, 4 R) and Cleveland (4.1 IP, 5 R). I feel good about the guy, so I’m going to put out a prediction of 5.2 innings with one run allowed and six K’s.

Now, to manifest another Rice bomb (or two) and maybe even daring to hope for some crooked numbers on the Yankees’ side of the scoreboard.

Today on the site, Sam will consider those strange Mets as an potential—if somewhat-unlikely—trade partner, Madison will run through the Rivalry Roundup, and Nick will celebrate what would have been the 97th birthday of versatile two-time World Series champion Héctor López. Later, Matt will look ahead to the MLB Draft by looking back at some famous picks in the specific spots where the Yankees will pick this year (Nos. 35, 63, and 99).