The Yankees took care of business to start their latest road trip, and after a day off, they enter Tuesday tied for the top spot in the AL East once again. They could move into an outright lead if they can continue their momentum and win their fourth straight series, but to do so they’ll have to best a solid team in its own right in Minnesota.
It’s been a rollercoaster season for the Twins, who started out 2024 in the hole with a 6-12 start — well below what some of their contemporaries in the AL Central were managing. However, they weren’t very healthy for that opening run and since getting some of their regulars back, Minnesota’s been undeniably the hottest team in baseball. They are winners of 17 of their last 20, including a run of 12 in a row (their longest streak since the championship 1991), and have catapulted themselves back into the postseason discussion.
It’s tough to catch a team that’s red-hot and playing at home, but you have to meet who’s in front of you head-on. So let’s see how the Yankees will match up in this series.
Tuesday: Carlos Rodón vs. Chris Paddack (7:40 p.m. ET)
Carlos Rodón is putting together a very solid sophom*ore season in New York, and he bounced back well after his first true stinker of the year. Baltimore roughed him up for six runs and three homers over four inning at the start of the month, but his last outing against Houston was a 6.1 inning, two-run gem. Overall Rodón has been as advertised, pitching to a 3.56 ERA over 43 innings with minimal home run troubles outside of that stumble in Baltimore.
Paddack is in his third year as a Twin, but this is already the deepest he’s gone in a season with them after Tommy John surgery wiped most of his first two years down the drain. He returned late last year as a reliever for their postseason run, but has since returned to the rotation and done a serviceable job. Paddack has a 4.34 ERA in 37.1 innings, and like Rodón only really has one bad game on his resume this year (ironically also against Baltimore). He’s coming off of a 10-strikeout performance against Seattle where he allowed nine baserunners but only gave up one run, and that’s the biggest knock against Paddack so far — he’ll allow plenty of traffic, but has been able to strand most of it.
Wednesday: Marcus Stroman vs. Pablo López (7:40 p.m. ET)
Stroman has been the consistent mid-tier starter that the Yankees needed to add to their rotation throughout this year, pitching to a 3.80 ERA in 42.2 innings, but he hasn’t had many sterling performances compared to the rest of the team’s arms. He got blitzed for three runs in the first inning of his last start against Houston, but locked in to remain in the game for 5.2 innings while only giving up one more run, a definitive example of the type of effort he’s been putting in since putting on the pinstripes.
López was brought in to be the co-ace alongside Sonny Gray last year, and now with Gray in St. Louis the onus has been on López to deliver — and he has. The since-extended López has thrown 44 innings and earned a 3.89 ERA with 55 strikeouts to this point, and his last outing was a 6.1 inning, 10-K masterpiece. He’s only walked eight batters all year as well, so getting a rally started against him is going to be a difficult task.
Thursday: Clarke Schmidt vs. Joe Ryan (1:10 p.m. ET)
Schmidt’s journey from potential fifth-starter to one of the better pitchers on the staff has been one to watch with delight. His main weakness, getting late into ballgames, has been highlighted over and over but he managed to persevere his last time out against Tampa — he pitched 6.2 shutout innings in what was easily his best start of the year and likely the best of his career. Overall, Schmidt’s got a 2.95 ERA over 42.2 innings this year and he’s doing his best to firmly entrench his place in the rotation.
Similarly, Joe Ryan’s had a breakout 2024 after two solid but unspectacular years in the Twins’ rotation. Ryan owns a 3.21 ERA over 47.1 innings with 53 strikeouts to his name, and has been even better than López with his control, walking just six batters. He’s also coming off of one of his best starts of the year, a seven-inning one-run gem against Toronto, completing a trio of closely-contested pitching matchups for the Yanks to deal with this week.
