New York

Yankees

Weathers’ velocity was down on a a rainy, 42-degree day at Yankee Stadium, but the Royals still had no fun trying to hit him. Weathers had 14 whiffs on 43 swings, and the slider that he’s barely used this year finished off three strikeouts and had a 55 percent CSW on the 20 times he threw it. The win is Weathers’ first with the Yankees. He has a 3.18 ERA and a 36/8 K/BB in 28 1/3 innings over five starts. He’ll face the Astros on Saturday.

Instead of going with their righties, the Yankees started both Grisham and Ben Rice against Ragans today and both took the southpaw deep. It was the third time Grisham has started in the Yankees’ eight games against lefties this season, though one of the previous two starts was just against a lefty opener. He’s 2-for-14 against southpaws, but that comes with a nice 4/4 K/BB.

The 22-year-old right-hander was off to a very strong start at Double-A Corpus Christi, posting a 1.29 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and an 8/4 K/BB ratio across seven innings in his first five appearances. He’ll add minor league bullpen depth for the Yankees.

It’s rare to see Stanton out of the lineup with a left-hander on the mound for the opposition, but the Yankees have done a good job giving him rest when needed this season in order to keep him healthy and productive. Ben Rice will function as the designated hitter on Sunday and bat leadoff against Cole Ragans and the Royals.

Bellinger took Royals lefty starter Noah Cameron deep for a two-run shot in the third inning before taking reliever Mitch Spence deep in garbage time a couple frames later to cap off his first multi-homer performance of the year. The 30-year-old reached base safely in four of his five plate appearances during the one-sided slugfest. It was his first time leaving the yard since April 4. He’s hitting .274/.368/.452 with three homers, 11 RBI and three steals in 20 games this season.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone has begun trusting Rice against left-handers over the past week and he’s rewarded that faith with a couple round-trippers. The 27-year-old first baseman’s seventh round-tripper of the season came off Royals lefty starter Noah Cameron in the third inning to give New York a commanding five-run lead at the time. The 398-foot blast was his second big fly against a southpaw within the past week. He’s been one of the best hitters in baseball this season and should be starting everyday for New York, regardless of whoever is on the mound.

Warren received a touchdown and a field goal’s worth of run support from New York’s formidable lineup and held up his end of the bargain, carrying a shutout into the seventh inning before finally relenting a two-run homer to Royals rookie Carter Jensen. He was in complete control from the outset in this one, generating 11 swinging strikes and needing just 93 pitches (62 strikes) to navigate seven frames. He’ll carry a sharp 2.49 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 31/6 K/BB ratio across 25 1/3 innings into a road tilt against the Astros on Friday.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters he expects Rodón, who is scheduled to throw a 55-60 pitch live batting practice session on Saturday, back before fellow rehabbing starter Gerrit Cole (elbow), who made his first rehab start on Friday at Double-A Somerset. The 33-year-old southpaw is working his way back from offseason elbow surgery, in addition to a hamstring-related setback, and figures to be ready to make his season debut at some point in May.

Finally. Rice will get a chance to face Royals left-hander Noah Cameron after spending the first couple of weeks on the bench against southpaws in favor of veteran Paul Goldschmidt. The 27-year-old burgeoning slugger launched his sixth round-tripper of the season during Friday’s series opener at Yankee Stadium and is hitting .339 (20-for-59) through 19 games this season. He’s 4-for-15 with one homer against lefties this year and is beginning to see more opportunities in those matchups, which would provide a meaningful boost to his fantasy value from a volume standpoint.

Cole, who is returning from elbow surgery, struck out three in the 44-pitch outing. All of the runs came on a homer from Aroon Escobar in the second. There’s no Statcast in Double-A games, but it sounds like Cole’s velocity was down slightly from his shorter spring starts, though he was OK with that. “I didn’t feel like I needed to add any more today,” Cole said. “And it was kind of a nice working pace, and the offspeed was thrown with the same intensity. I was pleased with the changeup today. The curveball was very sharp. I didn’t make any mistakes with that pitch. The slider was good, I hung the one slider that was the double. The fastball was good overall.” The Yankees haven’t announced they date or location of Cole’s second rehab start.