Despite a somnolent showing by the offense last night, the Yankees have a chance to get back in the series win column in the rubber game against the Guardians. They’ve got their ace on the mound, who should have a little extra to prove following his first bad outing on the year.

Max Fried suffered his worst start in pinstripes last time out against the Dodgers, giving up six runs on eight hits in five innings as Los Angeles came from behind to win, 8-5. He is leaning on the fastball more than at any point in his career — two-thirds of his pitches are either the four-seamer or sinker this year — and that came back to bite him with pretty much the whole Dodgers lineup hunting the heater. Despite the clunker, Fried still places comfortably among the top-ten qualified starters in the AL in ERA, FIP, fWAR, and a handful of other metrics. In 12 starts, Fried is 7-1 with a 1.92 ERA (206 ERA+), 2.87 FIP, and 70 strikeouts in 75 innings.

Slade Cecconi was acquired from the Diamondbacks over the winter in exchange for Josh Naylor, and he has seemingly taken a step back in his third year in the bigs. Among all starters with at least 15 innings pitched, Cecconi surrenders the second-most home runs per nine at 2.93, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Bombers swinging for the fences this evening. The 25-year-old righty has seen his mid-90s four-seamer get clobbered to the tune of a .360 batting average and .733 expected slugging against, so expect to see a steady diet of sliders and curveballs fed to the Yankees hitters. In three starts, Cecconi is 1-1 with a 5.28 ERA (78 ERA+), 6.07 FIP, and 17 strikeouts in 15.1 innings.

The Yankees make just two changes to the lineup that got blanked last night. Jasson Domínguez returns from a thumb contusion to play left field, sliding Cody Bellinger to right, Aaron Judge to DH, Ben Rice to first and Paul Goldschmidt to the bench, while Oswald Peraza replaces DJ LeMahieu at second. Rice and Judge each contributed a pair of hits last night, but the rest of the lineup managed just one between them — the bottom of the order simply needs to step up.

The Guardians meanwhile make a handful of changes to their lineup with the lefty Fried on the mound. David Fry comes in to DH, moving Carlos Santana to first and Kyle Manzardo to the bench. Jhonkensy Noel replaces Nolan Jones in right field and Will Wilson subs in for Daniel Schneemann at second.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES / Guardians TV Presented by Progressive

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 / WTAM 1100, WMMS 100.7, Guardians Radio Network

Online stream: Gotham Sports App; MLB.tv

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