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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JUNE 22: Joe Ryan #41 of the Minnesota Twins celebrates his complete game shutout against the Boston Red Sox with teammate Byron Buxton #25 after the game at Target Field on June 22, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Red Sox 6-0. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Just about everything that can go wrong lately for the Yankees has. Losing games? Well, obviously. Injuries? Unfortunately, yes. Offense going cold? You know it. Pitchers who’ve been having good years having unexpected off days? That too. Defensive lapses? Duh.
However over the years, there’s always been one thing that can help the Yankees get some wins: playing the Minnesota Twins. Well, that’s who’s up next so this weekend, we’ll see how big the slump truly is.
Having traded away a lot of their notable players at the trade deadline last year, the Twins are in something of a rebuild. While Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan, and some others you know are still around, they’re a different team than they’ve been in recent years. They’re still somewhat in the playoff race, but that’s more a product of the AL Central than anything else.
With the two teams starting a three-game set later tonight, let’s take a look at the probable pitching matchups for the next few days.
Friday: Gerrit Cole vs. Mike Paredes (7:04 pm ET)
Upon first coming off the injured list, Cole hit the ground running, throwing two 6+ inning shutout performances, including striking out 10 in one of them. However over the five starts since, he has a 6.12 ERA and a 5.95 FIP. His main issue in that time has been home runs, allowing seven in those five games. Hitting home runs has not been the issue for the Twins, as they were ninth in MLB with 110 going into Thursday’s games.
This will be the Yankees’ first ever meeting with the rookie Paredes. This will be just his fifth career start and seventh game in general, having gotten called up in late May. He’s been okay so far, with a 4.26 ERA and a 103 ERA+. However, his FIP is noticeably worse, 5.44, as he really doesn’t strike many hitters out.
Saturday:
Update: Actually, Rodón is going on the IL with left elbow inflammation, so… that’s great. Elmer Rodríguez pitched last night at Triple-A, so he’s unavailable for a spot start. Maybe it’ll be Brendan Beck, who made a spot-start cameo back in May and was supposed to go tonight for Scranton. Or maybe you!
Matthews is another fairly inexperienced pitcher, but in this case, the Yankees have seen him a couple times before and have gotten to him. They faced him last year in August and September, and in the second of those meetings the Yankees’ offense got him for nine runs on 11 hits in just three innings. His nine starts this year have generally been right around league average.
Sunday: Ryan Weathers vs. Joe Ryan (1:35 pm ET)
Weathers is another pitcher that’s a bit of a taxing watch, but unlike Rodón, his numbers don’t quite grade out as “pretty good.” His ERA (4.08) is technically better than average (104 ERA+), and his FIP (4.13) isn’t atrocious either, but when he’s bad, he tends to be bad enough to pitch the Yankees way out of games. In his last start, he lasted just 1.2 innings, having allowed five runs to the Tigers. The defense hurt him, as only two of the runs were earned, but he didn’t exactly cover himself in glory that day.
After a borderline ace-type season in 2025, that saw him in trade rumors during the Twins’ deadline sell-off, Ryan has taken a bit of a step back so far this year, at least if you just look at his ERA. However, his 2.95 FIP is the best of his career, and his 0.9 HR/9 rate is by far his best ever. If the Yankees’ offense are in one of their moods, he could very well breeze through them, even if a casual glance at his stats makes it look like he’s not as good this year.
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