Thursday’s day off came at just the right time for the New York Yankees, who are surrounded by more questions than answers these days.
The Yankees (80-60) are aiming for a fresh start when they begin a three-game series against the host Chicago Cubs (72-68) at Wrigley Field on Friday afternoon.
New York has lost three straight series heading into the weekend and has gone 30-38 over its last 68 games.
Juan Soto had three hits, including his 38th home run of the season, in New York’s 10-6 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. The loss was the Yankees’ sixth in their last eight games.
“We know we’ve got to be better than this if we want to get to where we want to go,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “Hopefully catch our breath a little bit and rest up a little bit on an off day. But we’ve got to get after it at Wrigley. I expect us to.”
The Cubs have gone 13-5 in their last 18 games to stay in wild-card contention. Shota Imanaga and two relievers combined for the Cubs’ 18th no-hitter in franchise history in Wednesday’s 12-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The no-hitter came after the Cubs placed starting pitcher Justin Steele (tendinitis in left elbow) and reliever Jorge Lopez (strained right groin) on the 15-day injured list earlier in the day.
“Not ideal,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Not ideal for the timing, where we are in the season. But that’s one thing that our team has proven that we can do, is we can be resilient. We can find other guys that can step up and pitch in big moments.”
A pair of right-handers will take the mound in the series opener as Chicago’s Javier Assad (7-4, 3.21 ERA) faces New York’s Luis Gil (12-6, 3.39).
Assad, 27, allowed three runs over six innings in a 5-3 win over the Washington Nationals last Saturday. He has set career highs for starts (25) and innings pitched (126) this season.
“He doesn’t give up,” Cubs catcher Christian Bethancourt said. “He gets mad at himself and sometimes you can see it and you can feel it. I think that is a good thing. Then he gets a punch in the mouth and then that’s when he starts executing and working.”
Assad is set to make his second career appearance against the Yankees. He received a no-decision after pitching three scoreless innings in relief on July 8, 2023.
New York will turn to Gil, who landed on the injured list with a lower back strain on Aug. 21. He threw 80 pitches over 3 2/3 innings in a rehab outing with Double-A Somerset on Sept. 1.
Gil, 26, will be making his first career appearance against the Cubs.
New York’s closer situation is unclear after Clay Holmes endured his league-leading 11th blown save of the season on Tuesday. Boone said that Jake Cousins, Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle could all be in the mix for save chances moving forward.
“In the short term, just try to put these guys in the best position to be successful,” Boone said. “How that shakes out may vary a little bit every night, but in the short term, that’s the way we’ll go.”
