Ryan Weathers struggles in no-decision vs. Pirates

Cole will be followed by Ryan Weathers on Saturday and Cam Schlittler on Sunday. The 35-year-old hurler had a solid first half in his return from Tommy John surgery, posting a 4.04 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and a 47/11 K/BB ratio over 49 innings of work through his first nine starts.

Weathers was fortunate to get out of a jam in the third inning with a double play ball that traded runners on first and third and nobody out for a run and a double play. Fernando Cruz came on in the sixth inning with runners on first and third (after C.J. Abrams stumbled on his way home and had to go back to third) and struck out two batters to preserve Weathers’ chance at a win, which Tim Hill promptly coughed up in the seventh. Weathers barely threw his fastball at all, as just 18 of his 91 pitchers weren’t sweepers, sliders, or changeups. He allowed four hard-hit balls. He’ll enter the second half of the season as a respectable 12-team starter going forward with a 4.15 ERA and a baffling 3-7 record.

Weathers gave up seven hits, walked one and struck out three. He fell to 3-6 with the loss. Weathers ran into trouble in both of the innings he started, though he wasn’t helped by a throwing error in the second inning by Jose Caballero. The Tigers were able to push five runs across against Weathers with their right-handed heavy lineup, though only two of the runs were earned. He has a 4.08 ERA. Weathers is lined up to face the Twins at home this weekend.

Weathers was able to dance around very, very consistent hard contact to outduel Tarik Skubal here. The Tigers had 10 hard-hit balls in total against him, but many of them turned into outs and whenever Weathers got into trouble, he wriggled his way out of it. His changeup was a big reason for that as his go-to put away pitch against righties and while some of them missed by a lot, the ones that were good were really good. All in all, this was a solid outing and Weathers left it with a 3.95 ERA, 95 strikeouts, and 24 walks through 86 2/3 innings so far this season. Weathers is scheduled to face the Tigers again followed by the Twins in a two-start week with both starts coming at home.

The 26-year-old southpaw scattered just three hits and one walk on the evening. The lone tally against him came on a solo blast off the bat of Colson Montgomery in the second inning. Unfortunately, the Yankees were only able to provide one run of support for him. Weathers got 13 whiffs on 88 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 28 percent. Still 2-5 on the season, he’ll bring a 4.13 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and an 89/22 K/BB ratio (80 2/3 innings) into Tuesday’s matchup against the Tigers in Detroit.

The long ball did Weathers in here. First, Kazuma Okamoto crushed a 423 foot shot in the first inning. Then, George Springer had a two-run homer of his own in the following frame. He settled in a bit after that, but was pulled after walking a batter and then forcing a ground ball. That inherited runner came around immediately after, just to make his final line a tad worse. Uncharacteristically, he forced very few swings-and-misses and left this start with a 4.36 ERA. It was just 3.14 three starts ago before a poor stretch where he’s allowed 16 earned runs over his last 17 innings. Next up, he;s scheduled to face the White Sox at home.

Weathers had a little extra velocity tonight, averaging 96.4 mph with his fastball, but he gave up two homers, seven hits and 11 hard-hit balls in all. He allowed two runs in the third after a potential double play ball resulted in only one out, as Anthony Volpe, probably overly cautiously, didn’t feel comfortable trying to make the initial throw to second with a pulled over Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ceddanne Rafaela both running towards the bag. The last two runs came on a Willson Contreras homer with two outs in the fifth. Chisholm seemed to have a real shot at handling the single to his left that kept the inning going, but he alligator armed it. Although he obviously deserves a significantly better record, Weathers dropped to 2-4 with a 3.86 ERA. He’ll face the Guardians next.

Weathers fanned 10, but he walked three and gave up three homers in one of the league’s top parks for offense. This leaves him 2-3, even though he has a nice 3.52 ERA and the Yankees are 6-5 in his starts. He’ll take on the Red Sox next time out.

Weathers gave up four hits, walked three and struck out four. The Rays didn’t put up much of a fight against Weathers. The closest Tampa Bay came to scoring was in the third inning when the Rays had back-to-back singles with one out. Weathers then got Junior Caminero to ground into a double play. The Rays didn’t get another runner to second base until Weathers left the game. He lowered his ERA this year to 3.14. Weathers is lined up to face the Athletics on the road next weekend.

Simply put, there was no possible way to get this game in with widespread showers in the forecast throughout the afternoon and evening at Yankee Stadium. It’ll be made up as a doubleheader on September 22. Saturday’s original starting pitchers — Drew Rasmussen and Ryan Weathers — will presumably get the ball on Sunday afternoon instead.