The New York Yankees are looking to take the rubber match of a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.
They'll be doing so without top prospect Jasson Dominguez, who was benched in Wednesday's lineup in favor of Alex Verdugo against left-hander Cole Ragans.
Even though Dominguez is a switch-hitter, he is far more productive from the left side than he is the right side of the plate.
In 29 starts, Ragans is 11-9 with a 3.33 ERA, 204 strikeouts and 57 walks in 167.1 innings this season.
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While the Yankees made it clear they wanted Dominguez playing every day once he was called up, manager Aaron Boone explained why the 21-year-old phenom isn't in the lineup for a vital game.
He also explained why catcher Austin Wells isn't in the lineup.
"More Ragans. Ragans is a guy that’s really tough on righties as a left-handed pitcher. I kind of wanted my lefties in there today, but being that Domínguez’s better side is the left side, so you consider a guy that’s really tough on righties and I want to keep Dugie playing. I kind of wanted a left-handed presence in the lineup today knowing I was going to give Wells a day today. It was just that," Boone said via Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.
Boone's not wrong about Ragans against righties this season. The southpaw has surprisingly dominated right-handed hitters to the tune of a .203 batting average 175 strikeouts, and a .613 OPS this season.
Meanwhile, lefties are hitting .278 with a .709 OPS against Ragans.
Yankees starting lineup
As the Yankees look to keep their 0.5-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles going into the weekend, here's a look at the lineup Wednesday night.
- Gleyber Torres, 2B
- Juan Soto, RF
- Aaron Judge, CF
- Jazz Chisholm, 3B
- Giancarlo Stanton, DH
- Alex Verdugo, LF
- Anthony Volpe, SS
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Jose Trevino, C
Since being called up earlier this week, Dominguez is 1-for-7 with a single and two strikeouts. He needs to get reps if the Yankees are going to rely on him in October, but they also need to win games now.
Verdugo has struggled for the majority of the season, especially against lefties (.600), but he's been better in recent games. The polarizing left fielder has a .313 average and .889 OPS over his last five games.
The Yankees and Royals are set for first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET in The Bronx.
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