Yankees, Red Sox in rain delay on Saturday night

The Yankees are in a bit of an odd state heading into play on Saturday against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. They already know that they’re going to be without Aaron Judge for at least the better part of two months (if not more) due to a stress fracture in his rib. They’ve lost four of their last six games, including a home series loss to the Guardians that saw the AL Central leaders rough up two previously unflustered aces in Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole. They lost the series opener against Boston last night thanks to some gopher-ball antics from Ryan Weathers and some defense and approaches at the plate that certainly left fans wanting.

The latest weirdness includes the catching situation. They’ve received very little production at the plate from the Austin Wells/J.C. Escarra tandem, and they decided to demote Escarra after last night’s game, seemingly with the desire to at least get a right-handed hitter in there in former big leaguer Ali Sánchez. He will start behind the plate on Saturday night. Then at 6:45pm ET — a little under an hour before first pitch — they reactivated Escarra because Wells needs to go on the IL with cervical headaches that sound downright painful, per the Cleveland Clinic. What a joy.

Oh, and the relish on top of this bizarre sandwich is that there are thunderstorms in the Tri-State Area and the game won’t begin on time. The Yankees announced this at about the same time as the Wells IL move, and they confirmed the rain delay at 7:17pm ET. Reports indicate that they expect to play before too long and that the storms will pass soon, but that’s where we are.

Hang in there and take care of yourself, especially if you’re dealing with neck pain like Wells.