The Yankees bring a hot offense to Cincinnati

THE New York Yankees three more wins in a very exciting streak in Toronto, and perhaps no one enjoyed those results more than Aaron Judge

Now Judge and the Yankees hope they avoid disappointment on friday night when they visit the Cincinnati Reds to open a three-game series

THE Yankees They have won 11 of their past 16 games since hitting .500 after a 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on May 1. They split at home against the Tampa Bay Rays last weekend and got a huge streak from Judge against it. the Blue Jays during a four-day stretch highlighted by allegations that the slugger stole signs

“I’m just trying to do my job,” said the judge. “I was excited, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I still have to go out there and play.”

Judge finished 6-for-14 in the Toronto series with four homers and seven RBIs. Since returning briefly from the disabled list on May 9, Judge is hitting .324 (12-37) with six homers and 14 RBIs.

“We focused on what we control between the lines,” said the judge. “We did a pretty good job of shutting out the noise and the distractions the whole series. We just went out there and did our thing.”

On Thursday, New York rookie Anthony Volpe also homered, Aaron Hicks collected three hits, and the Yankees He used his reliever trio of Ryan Weber, Albert Abreu and Ron Marinaccio to pitch the final three innings while Michael King, Clay Holmes and Wandy Peralta were unavailable.

“I feel like we’re rolling right now,” New York starting pitcher Nestor Cortes said. “I feel like we’re playing really good baseball. The pub is coming alive.”

Cincinnati returns home after splitting a six game series against the Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies. THE They are red they couldn’t win their third straight series when they collected 12 hits, but they led by five runs and lost to Colorado, 11-6, on Wednesday afternoon. The Rockies went 7-12 with runners in scoring position

Top prospect Matt McLain also made his major league debut They are red in series. He sat out Wednesday after going 2-for-8 in his first two games. The 23-year-old UCLA product became the first player from the first round to reach the big leagues in 2021.

“Matt has great instincts, but he’s also a smart player,” Cincinnati manager David Bell said. “He’s here for one thing: to go out and win a baseball game.”

Yankees Right-hander Clarke Schmidt (1-4, 6.30 ERA) gets his second career win as a starting pitcher on Friday

Schmidt picked up his first win as a starter on May 9 when he went six innings against the Oakland A’s, but struggled mightily against Tampa Bay on Sunday. He allowed a career-high 7 runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings in an 8-7 loss to the Rays. It was the sixth time in nine starts this year that Schmidt hasn’t gone five innings, and he fell to 1-7 with a 5.85 ERA in 14 career starts.

Ben Lively (1-1, 1.69 ERA), who joined the They are red on May 9, when Luis Cessa received an assignment, he will get the ball for Cincinnati on Friday. He is making his first major league start since April 26, 2018, when he started for the Philadelphia Phillies against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Lively is 4-9 with a 4.81 ERA in 20 starts, all in Philadelphia in 2017-18. He had a pair of relief appearances and allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings. They are red this year

Both starting pitchers are facing their opponents for the first time.

— Field Level Media