Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees

The Boston Red Sox (32-32) aim to post consecutive wins over the New York Yankees (37-28) for the first time in 13 meetings between these century-old AL rivals when they continue a three-game weekend series on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox opened the series with a narrow 3-2 victory on Friday night to improve to a meager 6-12 over their past 18 overall. Friday’s loss added to the Yankees’ woes on their current six-game home stand, which they have opened on a 1-3 run while scoring just three runs per game.  

Starting Pitcher Report: Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox will turn to Tanner Houck to start on Saturday night. The 26-year-old right hander enjoyed a fast start to the season, earning wins in three of his first four starts while allowing just 10 total earned runs over that stretch. However, it has been all downhill since, with Houck going 0-5 with a 6.14 ERA over his past seven starts.

Houck has surrendered four earned runs in three of his past four outings, lasting more than 5.0 innings just once over that stretch, capped by a five-inning, five-hit performance in last Sunday’s 6-2 loss to Tampa Bay. However, Red Sox hitters have provided Houck with little support, scoring just seven total runs in the past five games he started.

Starting Pitcher Report: New York Yankees

Domingo German looks to earn his first win at Yankee Stadium in almost two months when he answers the call for New York on Saturday. German has limited opponents to just a single earned run in three of his four home starts to date. But like his rival on the Red Sox mound on Saturday night, German has not enjoyed the benefit of a productive Yankees offense, which scored just four total runs in the past four home dates he started.

New York bats came alive in his past three outings, all on the road, with the Yankees scoring 20 total runs in those contests. German returned the favor in his last start last Sunday. The 30-year-old right hander scattered four hits and one earned run while throwing a season-high 99 pitches in 6.2 innings to lead the club to a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers 

Keys to Victory: Red Sox

Runs have come at a premium for the Red Sox, who have averaged just 2.55 runs per game during a 4-7 road swoon, and have scored more than three runs just once while winning just two of their past seven overall.

The club has benefited from Rafael Devers’s recent surge, which has produced multi-hot performances in three of five outings including two hits and a home run on Friday night. However, Devers is hitting just .136 in 22 career at-bats versus German.

Keys to Victory: Yankees

Josh Donaldson has continued an all-or-nothing run at the plate since returning to the plate at the beginning of June, cracking his fifth home run of the season. The former AL MVP is just 5-for-31 in 10 games since April 1.

However, each of those hits have left the park including a sixth-inning home run on Friday night. Anthony Rizzo remains in a slump, the start of which coincided with the loss of slugger Aaron Judge with a toe injury. The Yankees first baseman has gone 0-for-19 in the five games since Judge was sidelined, but still maintains an impressive .318 average with eight home runs at home this season.