The Yankees got themselves a well-earned rest day after taking two out of three in the Subway Series over the weekend, their fourth consecutive series win overall. Tonight they’ll kick off a three-game set with the Rangers to wrap up their homestand. The 2023 World Series champs are having a weird year: by and large they’re pitching the lights out, but their bats have been far less impressive. That struggling lineup will face the rookie Will Warren in the opener. Veteran lefty Patrick Corbin gets the ball for Texas.

I’ve had quite a knack for drawing Warren’s starts so far this season; this’ll be the fifth time this year I write up one of his starts out of 10 overall. I must admit I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about it at first, but now that he seems to be figuring things out a little more at the big league level, I’ve been a substantially more interested observer.

It helps that he’s been a more interesting pitcher to watch lately. Last time out against Seattle, he went to his curveball, a pitch he’d only deployed a handful of times in previous starts, and used it to great effect to subdue a talented Mariners lineup. We’ll see if this tilt with his third AL West team in as many starts will bring more success from the young righty, who has collected 24 strikeouts in the month of May.

Looking at Patrick Corbin’s stats so far with Texas, I thought of a line from Inspector Javert in the Les Mis musical: “the law is inside out, the world is upside down!” What is Corbin’s ERA doing at a palatable 3.35, even through seven starts? The veteran lefty took a minor-league flyer with Texas and has allowed no more than three runs in any of his outings this year. Perhaps his last time against the Yankees in 2024, in which he shut them down over six scoreless innings in Washington—was a sign of things to come?

Well, maybe and maybe not. Corbin’s FIP of 4.74 sits right in line with where it was in his DC days. He’s stranding baserunners at an 86.5-percent clip, 15 percentage points above league average. It would not appear the Rangers have suddenly discovered brilliance lying dormant within the 35-year old, though the fact that he hasn’t been torn to smithereens like Charlie Morton has got to count for something. The thing that seems to really be working for him this year is an ability to suppress hard contact, which was absolutely nowhere to be found with the Nationals. Will that last? I have my doubts; a tango with the league’s top offense by wRC+ and FanGraphs WAR seems as good a test as any.

Paul Goldschmidt is going to lead off against the lefty Corbin, and Aaron Boone will alternate lefties and righties the whole way through. The Rangers, lacking Corey Seager for this series, will not send a particularly threatening batch of hitters to the dish against Warren tonight—even their young star Wyatt Langford is hitting below .200 over the past two weeks. You still have to play the games, though.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium—The Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, Rangers Sports Network, Victory+

Radio broadcast: WFAN (NYY); 105.3 The Fan, KFLC 1270 (TEX)

Online stream: MLB.tv, Gotham Sports App

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