Is Will Warren Good Enough For New York Yankees To Win Game 3 Rubber Match?

Will Warren has been highly inconsistent for the Yankees this season. Now the Yankees are relying upon him to win the rubber game with the Chicago Cubs and send them to the All-Star break on a winning note. This is a preview of the third game between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees are relying upon Warren. He has been very good for most of the season, but has had a couple of rough starts that are skewing his earned run average. Can Warren handle the high-powered Cubs? Which Warren do you think will show up?

Preview Of the Pitching Matchup In Game 3: Warren Vs Imanaga

Warren is pitching for the Yankees at home in this game. He has more strikeouts than any rookie pitcher in baseball, but had terrible starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the homeless Athletics. These bad starts are skewing his earned run average. Warren is now 6-4 with a 4.70 earned run average. He has 111 strikeouts in only 90 innings. However, there is some thought that this game may be too big for him. The Yankees are counting on him to successfully send them into the All-Star break against a very good Cubs team that is now the second-leading scoring offense in baseball.

Warren is being opposed by Imanaga. After a sensational Major League Baseball debut last year that saw him finish top-five in both Rookie of the Year and Cy Young voting in the National League, the 31-year-old has been effective, though he has battled injuries this year.

Imanaga has a 2.80 earned run average through 11 starts. He is only 5-3 because he has missed time. He is not the strikeout pitcher he was last season, which is good news for the swing-happy Yankees. Warren will strike out more than enough Cubs in this rubber game for both of them. In Imanaga’s last start last time out, he held the Twins to two runs over 5.2 innings.

The Winning Streak Is Over 

The Yankees won five games in a row and scored five or more runs in nine games. Both of those streaks ended with the Yankees’ 5-3 loss on Saturday. The Yankees are counting on the inconsistent Warren to pitch effectively in the rubber game of this series against the Chicago Cubs. It would be important for the Yankees to win this game and head into the All-Star break a winner. They would win their second consecutive series against a playoff-caliber team. They just swept the Seattle Mariners at home.

All of the momentum they had is gone, and the Yankees were counting on Max Fried to win in the second game of this series. But he did not. Instead, he developed a blister on his throwing hand index finger for the fifth time in his career.

Lucky Blister?

Fried has had problems in his career with blisters. If there is any such thing as good timing for a blister, this is it. After the game tomorrow, the Yankees do not play until Friday, in Atlanta, where the All-Star game is. Ideally, the Yankees would start an effective Fried in that Friday game. However, if his blister has not healed, he can have about another five days off. Yankees fans hope he does not have to miss starts, just like they hope Warren is effective tomorrow.

Conclusion

It is time for the Yankees to start a new winning streak with a win tomorrow in game three against the Chicago Cubs. Warren needs to pitch great. He has had many better starts this season than bad starts, so the odds are in his favor. Though there is some evidence that he does not pitch well in big games, and certainly, this is a big game.