Yankees Eye Third Straight Win Over Slumping Cleveland

The New York Yankees are 5-0 SU in their last five road games against the Cleveland Indians including a 2-0 start through the first two games of this current four-game series in Cleveland. The Yankees will try to continue their success against the Indians in what projects to be a pitcher’s duel this Saturday night.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Yankees opened as -108 betting favorites and have been bet up to New York -125. Cleveland is going off at +105 as home underdogs and the total is set very low at just 6.5 runs. The UNDER is 4-1 in New York’s last five games.

Starting Pitchers Analysis

Gerrit Cole is off to a dazzling start in his second season with the New York Yankees. Cole owns a 2-1 record with a 1.82 ERA, a 0.81 WHIP and 39 strikeouts in 24.2 innings pitched. In four career starts against the Indians, Cole has produced a 2.79 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP in 29 innings pitched.

Shane Bieber had a breakout season in 2020 when he compiled a 1.63 ERA, a 0.87 WHIP and 122 strikeouts in 77.1 innings pitched to with the AL Cy Young Award. Bieber has picked up where he left off with 48 strikeouts through his first 29.1 innings pitched in 2021 with a rock-solid 2.45 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP.

New York News & Notes

After falling into an early 3-0 hole in the first inning, the Yankees didn’t give up another run for the rest of the game against Cleveland on Friday. Aaron Hicks and Rougned Odor each hit home runs in a three-run second inning and Giancarlo Stanton added two monster shots in the third and fifth innings to lead New York to a 5-3 win over the Indians.

The game looked a lot like Thursday’s matchup against the Indians when the Yankees fell into a 3-0 hole in the first inning and went on to win the game 6-3. New York still ranks 29th in the majors in team batting average at .210 and 27th in run production with only 3.68 runs per game, but two straight come-from-behind wins could provide a spark of confidence for the offense.

Cleveland News & Notes

The only team with a team-wide batting average worse than the Yankees is the Indians, who are batting just .207 as a team. Cleveland also ranks 26th in the majors in runs per game with 3.78 through the team’s first 18 games. The Indians’ pitching has been very strong with a team ERA of 3.63, but the lack of offense has left the team with an 8-10 record in 2021.

Cleveland fell to 1-5 over its last six games with its two straight losses to New York. The Indians have allowed 5.83 runs per game over that stretch. With such a weak offense, the Indians can’t afford any struggles on the mound.