Before the New York Yankees learned they would be without Gerrit Cole for the season due to right elbow surgery and that Luis Gil would miss significant time with a right lat strain, Marcus Stroman had already cemented himself as a key part of the rotation.
Stroman is set to make his season debut on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, following a historic night for the Yankees, who crushed a franchise-record nine home runs on Saturday.
He’ll take the mound a day after Aaron Judge put on a show, blasting three home runs and driving in a career-best eight runs in the Yankees’ 20-9 rout of Milwaukee. Judge contributed to a back-to-back-to-back homer sequence in the first inning, following Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt before launching a grand slam in the third and a two-run shot in the fourth.
“It was electric, from the stadium crowd to just the guys in the dugout locked in and fired up,” Judge said after the Yankees joined the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays and 1999 Cincinnati Reds as just the third team in MLB history to hit nine homers in a game.
Now, the Yankees look to complete the sweep in the three-game series.
Stroman, a right-hander, finished 10-9 with a 4.31 ERA last season, the first of his two-year contract that includes a conditional player option. He started strong, going 7-4 with a 3.51 ERA in 19 starts before the All-Star break.
Despite not appearing in any of the Yankees’ postseason games, Stroman’s name circulated in trade rumors, especially after the team signed Max Fried. However, with Cole sidelined, his role in the rotation is now more crucial than ever.
The Yankees suffered a major blow when Luis Gil was sidelined for at least three months, and Gerrit Cole underwent Tommy John surgery, leaving gaps in the rotation.
Meanwhile, Marcus Stroman wrapped up spring training with a 2-1 record and a 4.73 ERA across five starts, totaling 13 1/3 innings.
“Good, sharp, crisp,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Stroman’s spring performance. “I feel like especially in his last couple of starts, he started to get the movement quality he wanted, especially on the sinker. The cutter has been a really good pitch for him all spring. His stuff has been crisp as we’ve gone, and he’s getting the movement where he wants it.”
Stroman has fared well against the Brewers in his career, holding a 3-1 record with a 3.10 ERA in eight starts. His most recent outing against them came in Milwaukee on April 28, where he allowed four runs over four innings in a no-decision.
After Freddy Peralta and former Yankee Nestor Cortes started the first two games of this series, Aaron Civale will take the mound for the Brewers on Sunday, aiming to provide some much-needed innings after Cortes lasted just two-plus innings on Saturday.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after his team committed five errors despite recording 13 hits in Saturday’s loss. “We just didn’t have things go our way.”
Civale, who was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays on July 3, finished last season with a 6-3 record and a 3.53 ERA in 14 starts for Milwaukee, allowing three earned runs or fewer in 12 of those outings. Overall, he ended the year 8-9 with a 4.36 ERA.
His track record against the Yankees, however, hasn’t been as strong. Civale is 1-4 with a 5.52 ERA in six career starts against New York. The last time he faced them on April 21, he surrendered five runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings.
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