Severino leads Yankees vs. Astros on MLB.TV

Martinez, Scherzer square off on 'Sunday Night Baseball'

July 1st, 2017

Sundays make for some of the most exciting baseball, and with every team in action, there's plenty on the slate today on MLB.TV.
MLB.TV is offering 2017 premium yearly and single team subscriptions for $20.17 through July 4. MLB.TV Premium has nearly two dozen features for subscribers to access and interact with live out-of-market Major League Baseball games at 60 frames per second on more than 400 supported devices.
Here's what to watch for today (all times ET):
Fighting for first: NYY@HOU, 2:10 p.m.
The Yankees have held at least a share of first place in the American League East entering play for 52 of their games this year, but have flip-flopped with the Red Sox atop the leaderboard for most of the past week.
The Yankees turn to who has been their best pitcher thus far, , who has gone at least six innings in seven straight starts and is coming off a career-high 12 strikeouts with no walks against the White Sox in his last outing. The 23-year-old righty is one of the hardest-throwing starters in the Majors, with an average four-seam velocity of 97.2 mph, third-highest in MLB, per Statcast™. Severino did struggle in his outing against Houston on May 14, when he was pulled after 77 pitches over 2 1/3 innings.
For the Astros, Mike Fiers has gone 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA in his last six outings -- more telling, he hasn't allowed a homer in that span of 37 innings, a stark contrast to his early season woes when he gave up 18 homers in 46 2/3 innings during his first nine starts.
Back on the board: COL@ARI, 4:10 p.m.
The Rockies snapped a season-worst eight-game losing streak in their series opener Friday. It was an incredibly rocky end of June for a club that had been perched atop the National League West a chunk of the season.

Part of Colorado's offensive struggles may have stemmed from their increased rate of "topped" contact, measured by Statcast™ as balls driven straight into the ground. In June, their rate of such batted balls was 38.1 percent, third-highest in the Majors, well off their 30.6 percent mark in April, seventh-lowest.
As the summer presses on, the Rockies will attempt to stagger their rotation of rookies. has faced the D-backs three times this year, going 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 18 innings.
The D-backs' went 2-0 with a 3.63 ERA in June and gave up just one homer. When he faced the Rockies on June 21, Walker threw 26 cutters, his most ever in a single start, which yielded a swinging strike, called strike or foul ball about 58 percent of the time.
Look out: LAD@SD, 4:40 p.m.
After one of the more memorable benches-clearing incidents, featuring a shove from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to Padres skipper Andy Green on Friday, these clubs wrap their tense weekend series.
After throwing seven scoreless innings in a spot start Thursday against the Angels, right-hander will get another go while (right knee inflammation) gets back to form.

"We do have depth in starting pitching, but I think that Kenta understands what he can control, and he's taking charge of it and making good results," Roberts said Tuesday.
The Padres' brings a 1.83 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP at home in his eight starts at Petco Park this season. He also registered quality starts in each of his five June outings.
Slider shootout: WSH@STL, 8:05 p.m.
A midseason meeting between aces is always a treat, and ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" features two of the best, who each boast among the game's best sliders. 
The Nationals' Max Scherzer and the Cardinals' have been among the best pitchers the last two months, ranking first (.224) and sixth (.263), respectively, in expected weighted on-base average, entering Saturday, which is compiled by Statcast™ based on rolling hit probabilities measured through exit velocity and launch angle.

Scherzer leads the National League with a 2.06 ERA. Martinez has finished six innings in 12 straight outings, and since April he has allowed no more than three runs in a start just once.