All is not well in Yankee-land. After taking their first three series on the strength of a stifling rotation, they\u2019ve scuttled, dropping two of three to the Athletics before getting swept by the Rays. They\u2019ll get the chance to rebound this week against an Angels squad that finished worst in the AL West last year but has gotten off to a respectable 8-8 start. Let\u2019s take a look at the likely pitching matchups for this mid-week set in the Bronx.<\/p>\n
Monday: Will Warren vs. Yusei Kikuchi (7:05 pm ET) <\/p>\n
After an encouraging rookie season last year, Will Warren has gotten off to a strong start. He\u2019s yet to allow more than two runs through three outings, doing a better job of limiting free passes and hard contact. The right-hander has not surpassed 85 pitches in any of his starts, though, limiting him to more of a \u201cfive-and-dive\u201d role than a workhorse. Last season, Warren posted a 3.31 ERA outside of his four worst starts, meaning it will be key to see if he\u2019s able to sustain his early success over a longer sample size.<\/p>\n
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He\u2019s lined up to face Yusei Kikuchi. The veteran was an All-Star in his first season with LA last year, making 33 starts while performing slightly above league-average. He\u2019s gotten off to a rough start this year, allowing 11 runs through 14.2 innings. The southpaw\u2019s metrics suggest he\u2019s been unlucky, though, with an expected ERA of 3.77 which would be an improvement over last year. That\u2019s because he\u2019s inducing weaker contact while issuing fewer walks, a time-honored formula for success. Kikuchi threw 97 pitches his last time out, so expect him to shoulder a full starter\u2019s workload as long as he\u2019s effective.<\/p>\n
Tuesday: Ryan Weathers vs. Reid Detmers (7:05 pm ET) <\/p>\n
After two brief and uneven outings to begin his Yankees career, Ryan Weathers made a statement his last time out. Against a potent Athletics lineup, the former Marlin allowed just one run in eight innings, pitching around seven hits in a performance that showed the potential the Yankees saw when they acquired him this offseason. The biggest tweak the team made to Weathers\u2019 profile was transforming his sinker, which he threw just 20 times last year, into his top secondary pitch. The results have not followed, as opponents have hit .421 against the pitch.<\/p>\n
Weathers will oppose Reid Detmers. A former top prospect, Detmers struggled as a starter before finding success last year as a reliever. In a controversial move, the Angels transitioned him back to the rotation this season and the results have been mixed. A 6.2-inning scoreless outing against the Mariners was followed by a six-run drubbing at the hand of the A\u2019s in which he only got one out in the fifth. Detmers has largely been a two-pitch pitcher so far this year, featuring a four-seamer which has gotten torched and a slider which has held opponents to a .167 batting average.<\/p>\n
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Wednesday: Luis Gil vs. Jack Kochanowicz (7:05 pm ET)<\/p>\n
Luis Gil is the elephant in the Yankees\u2019 room. After he took home Rookie of the Year honors in 2024, the team looked to have a rotation mainstay for years to come. But, after missing most of last year to injury, he wasn\u2019t the same pitcher upon his return, with a fastball down more than a tick leading to plummeting strikeout and whiff rates. After failing to show enough to overtake Warren or Weathers in the spring, he was optioned to Triple-A out of camp, with the plan to utilize a four-man rotation until a fifth starter was needed. That need arose last Friday, and Gil did little to change the narrative around his decline, allowing three runs, three hits, and three walks in four innings while taking the loss against Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
While LA is yet to announce their starter for Wednesday, Jack Kochanowicz would be up next in their rotation. After serving as a black hole in the Angels\u2019 rotation last year, posting a 6.81 ERA, he\u2019s been much improved through three starts this season. The right-hander allowed a single run in 12.2 innings over his last two starts against the Mariners and Reds, both playoff teams from last year. Still, his 5.96 expected ERA indicates this may be a blip, as the 25-year-old is still allowing far more walks and recording far fewer punchouts than league average.<\/p>\n
Thursday: Max Fried vs. TBD (1:35 pm ET)<\/p>\n
After finishing fourth in AL Cy Young voting last year, Max Fried has been every bit as dominant through his first four starts in 2026. He allowed three runs his last time out against Tampa Bay but went eight innings while throwing just 94 pitches. The sinkerballer is yet to allow a home run and, as the only healthy one out of the team\u2019s three aces, has been an anchor in the Yankees\u2019 rotation once again.<\/p>\n
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After sending down George Klassen, the team\u2019s number-four prospect who allowed seven runs in 4.2 innings through his first two MLB starts, it\u2019s unclear who the Angels will send to the bump for Thursday\u2019s series closer. Sam Aldegheri has big-league experience and is already on the 40-man, but his 10.80 ERA through three starts at Triple-A does not inspire confidence. LA may end up going with an opener approach this time through as they consider their long-term options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All is not well in Yankee-land. After taking their first three series on the strength of a stifling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1426,99864,97371,48,52,51,47,50,49,101512,32870,37460,5223,116191,71018,48905,13434,48904,115632,4820,17203,46988,105544,23643],"class_list":{"0":"post-265527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-george-klassen","10":"tag-jack-kochanowicz","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-headlines","13":"tag-la-news","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","16":"tag-los-angeles-news","17":"tag-luis-gil","18":"tag-mariners","19":"tag-max","20":"tag-new-york-yankees","21":"tag-rays","22":"tag-reds","23":"tag-reid-detmers","24":"tag-rotation","25":"tag-ryan-weathers","26":"tag-sam-aldegheri","27":"tag-san-francisco-giants","28":"tag-the-angels","29":"tag-the-athletics","30":"tag-will-warren","31":"tag-yusei-kikuchi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}