In every season of his career, Pete Alonso’s lone visit to Yankee Stadium occurred for the New York Mets in the “Subway Series.”
After not being offered a contract by the Mets in the offseason, Alonso will make multiple trips to the Bronx for the first time in his career starting Friday night when the Baltimore Orioles visit the New York Yankees for the opener of a four-game series.
Since debuting with a 53-homer season in 2019, Alonso played 19 games for the Mets at Yankee Stadium and batted .225 with seven homers, 19 RBIs and an .835 OPS. After passing Darryl Strawberry as the Mets’ all-time home run leader, Alonso left the club and joined the Orioles on a five-year, $155 million deal.
Through the first month with his new club, Alonso is hitting .198 with four homers and 13 RBIs after the Orioles split a doubleheader with the Houston Astros on Thursday.
Alonso helped the Orioles win the series by homering in a 5-3 win on Tuesday. Baltimore took an 11-5 loss in the nightcap on Thursday after Adley Rutschman and Jeremiah Jackson hit grand slams in a 10-3 win during the opener.
Alonso’s slow start has contributed to Baltimore going 15-16 through the end of April. The Orioles have just six wins in their past 15 games.
“It’s just one of those things where it’s still early,” Alonso said earlier this week. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, if we end up a game above .500, or right at .500, at the end of the month — obviously, not a perfect start, but honestly, it could be a lot worse.”
The Orioles will face the first-place Yankees seven times in the next two weeks as they attempt to make up an early five-game deficit in the American League East. New York is returning home after going 7-2 on a nine-game road trip against the Boston Red Sox, Houston and the Texas Rangers.
The Yankees have 10 victories in their past 12 games.
New York was unable to complete the sweep in Texas on Wednesday afternoon when Ben Rice had three of its five hits in a 3-0 loss to Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.
“You always feel like you want to finish everything off and make it really great into an off day. Eovaldi beat us today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said postgame. “I feel like we’re in a good place. We’re playing well.”
The Yankees’ biggest concern might be Jasson Dominguez’s left elbow. Dominguez made his season debut in Texas but exited the Wednesday game after getting hit by a pitch. The team was awaiting MRI results.
New York also is expected to activate Anthony Volpe from the injured list at some point during the weekend series. The shortstop had a torn labrum in his left shoulder surgically repaired in October after playing through the ailment since last May. His 20-day minor league rehab assignment expires on Sunday.
Whenever Volpe returns, he will be playing behind the best pitching staff in baseball in terms of ERA. As Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon rehab injuries, the Yankees enter the series with a 3.11 ERA and a big-league-best 2.74 ERA from their starters.
New York’s Will Warren (3-0, 2.59 ERA) will start on Friday after originally being slated to pitch on Wednesday. Warren last pitched on April 24 in Houston, when he allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings. He has won back-to-back starts, with the Yankees scoring 13 and 12 runs in those contests.
Warren is 1-2 with a 4.95 ERA in four career starts against Baltimore, which had not announced its Friday starter as of Thursday night.
–Field Level Media
