NY Yankees vs Boston Red Sox pitching matchups for AL East rivalry at Yankee Stadium

The Yankees are looking for answers any way they can get them.

This was made clear in the series finale versus the Reds, where manager Aaron Boone made rookie Ben Rice the new leadoff hitter and slid Anthony Volpe from top of the order all the way down to the No. 6 spot sandwiched between Gleyber Torres and Austin Wells.

The results didn't pay off on the Fourth of July, with the Bronx Bombers being swept at home versus a Reds' team that lost 10 of 15 games coming into the Bronx.

With Thursday's 8-4 loss, the Yankees are an MLB-worst 5-14 in their last 19 games and were swept by Cincinnati for the first time since the 1976 World Series.

Furthermore, the Reds also became the first team to ever sweep the Yankees at home in a three-game interleague series.

It doesn't get any easier for New York, who now welcome in a Red Sox team on a four-game winning streak that has won 12 of their previous 16 games.

With the must-see, historic AL East rivalry getting underway tonight, here are the starting pitching matchups for the Yankees and Red Sox this weekend:

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Yankees vs Red Sox pitching matchups

Friday, 7:05 p.m., YES: LHP Nestor Cortes (4-7, 3.51 ERA) vs. RHP Tanner Houck (7-6, 2.67 ERA)

Saturday, 1:05 p.m., FS1: RHP Gerrit Cole (1-1, 6.23 ERA) vs. RHP Josh Winckowski (2-1, 2.80 ERA)

Sunday, 7 p.m., ESPN: RHP Luis Gil (9-4 3.41 ERA) vs. RHP Kutter Crawford (4-7, 3.47 ERA)

Analysis: Nestor Cortes gets the call for the series opener. The 29-year-old southpaw continued to struggle on the road, surrendering three runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 9-3 loss against the Blue Jays on June 29. He's now 0-4 with a 5.83 ERA in nine starts away from Yankee Stadium this season and has only picked up the win in one of his last seven appearances. The good news is he's much better at home, where he sports a 4-3 record, a much lower ERA (1.83) and opponents are hitting 100 points less (.195 at home compared to .295 on the road) versus Cortes in the Bronx.

Houck is undoubtedly coming off of his worst start of the season. The 28-year-old allowed a season-high in earned runs (7) and hits (9) in only 4 1/3 innings pitched in a 11-1 loss versus the Padres last Saturday. It was his shortest start of the year and gave up three of the five home runs he conceded in 2024 in that lone outing against San Diego. Prior to that, Houck was cruising, winning four of seven starts leading up to it and failing to get to the sixth inning just one time, where he went 5 2/3 innings against the Blue Jays on June 18.

Cole will look for back-to-back solid starts when he takes the mound on Saturday afternoon. The reigning American League CY Young Award winner was at his best so far this season, pitching five innings and allowing one one run on three hits with a season-high six strikeouts to pick up his first win of the year in the Yankees' 8-1 victory over Toronto last Sunday. There's no question it was gonna take Cole some time to get back to his normal self after missing so much time to begin the season, and hopefully this is where it starts for the 33-year-old ace.

In order to do so, he'll have to face the team that's given him the most trouble in his career, as he's 7-7 with a 4.92 ERA in 19 appearances (regular season and playoffs) versus Boston and has not earned a victory against them in nearly two years, a start where Cole went seven strong innings, giving up just two runs on four hits with 12 strikeouts on July 17, 2022.

Opposite Cole will be Winckowski. This will be only his fifth start this season as he's currently the fifth starter in Boston's rotation. The 28-year-old right-hander picked up his second win of the season in his most recent appearance, not allowing a walk or giving up a run on only four hits in five innings in a 4-1 win over San Diego on June 30. In his limited amount of starts, Winckowski's been good for roughly four to five innings of work, with the exception so far being on June 25 versus Toronto where he struck out a season-high eight batters and threw 91 pitches in six innings.

After a red-hot 2 1/2 months to start his 2024 campaign, Gil has continued to struggle since earning his last win against the Red So on June 14. He picked up his three consecutive loss versus the Reds on Tuesday night. Command continues to be an issue for the current front runner of this year's American League Rookie of the Year award, as he gave up three walks with only three strikeouts. Gil only conceded two hits, but both of them were extra base hits with a triple from Elly De La Cruz to lead to the Reds first run of the game and a two-run home run from Will Benson that ultimately knocked him out of the game in the fifth inning.

Crawford is coming off his best start in nearly two months, as he struck out seven and surrendered one run on three hits in six innings to pick up his fourth win of the year in a 8-3 win over the Marlins on July 2. This came after he went 2-6 in his last 10 starts and raised his ERA from 1.35 at the beginning of May to .359 at the end of June. When these two teams last met three weeks ago, the Okeechobee, Florida native took care of business against the Bronx Bombers, finishing with a season-high nine strikeouts in six solid innings of work in a 9-3 win over the Yankees on June 16. Crawford has been much better on the road than at Fenway Park in 2024, posting a 2-2 record with a 2.70 ERA in eight starts and opponents mustering only a .205 average against him.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Yankees vs Red Sox pitching matchups Nestor Cortes Gerrit Cole Luis Gil