Yankees hoping Luis Garcia Jr. makes team debut vs. Cards

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the acquisition of Luis Garcia Jr. succinctly by saying: "He can rake. He can really hit."

In other words, the complete opposite of how his offense is performed for most of Aaron Judge's absence, and Boone hopes to see Garcia's first set of at-bats Monday night when the Yankees open a three-game series against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.

Sitting 2 1/2 games back of the American League East-leading Rays and leading the AL wild-card race, the Yankees return for a nine-game homestand and a stretch where they play 19 of their next 25 games at home. Returning after a 6-4 road trip, New York acquired Garcia from the Washington Nationals for four pitchers following Sunday's 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

When Garcia appears, his .283 average will be the highest on the Yankees, whose .232 batting average is fourth-worst in the majors. New York's batting average has particularly cratered since Judge was sidelined indefinitely with a fractured rib, batting .219 and averaging 3.9 runs in their past 53 games without their captain.

Garcia is enjoying a career season after transitioning from second base to first base. Besides his high average, he has 23 homers and 76 RBIs, and his .560 slugging percentage is third in the game besides new teammate Ben Rice (.561) and Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez (.650).

"I know that he's a great hitter. I know that," said infielder Jose Caballero, whose two-run homer Sunday helped the Yankees improve to 13-16 in one-run games. "I just saw the news. Excited to see him here and what he can contribute to the team, for sure."

The Cardinals enter Monday four games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League's third wild-card spot and are 5-13 in their past 18 games. St. Louis is attempting to win consecutive games for the first time since July 10-11 after scoring four times in the ninth inning in Sunday's 5-1 win at Toronto.

"Today we were able to drive in a couple there late," St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. "And we had opportunities earlier in the game that we (missed). So it was good to be able to capitalize on it later."

Jordan Walker hit a two-run single and helped the Cardinals score five runs for the first time in eight games and fifth time since the All-Star break. While Walker is hitting .283 overall in his breakout season, he is 7-for-34 (.206) in his past eight games and hitting .229 (16-for-70) in 17 games since the All-Star break.

Walker will attempt to reverse his slump by facing Cam Schlittler (10-6, 2.04 ERA), who leads the AL in ERA and is holding hitters to a .196 batting average, the fourth-best in baseball. After getting knocked out early against the Dodgers on July 19, Schlittler allowed one run and notched 20 strikeouts during the road trip against the Phillies and White Sox.

Schlittler is coming off a no-decision after allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings when the Yankees blew a four-run lead and took a 6-5, 12-inning loss at the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, and his most recent start is part of a six-game stretch that has seen New York starters post a 0.73 ERA.

St. Louis starting pitchers have limited opponents to two runs or fewer in eight of the past 10 games. Michael McGreevy (4-9, 3.57) starts Monday after allowing 11 runs on 15 hits over eight innings in losses to the Diamondbacks and the Cubs.

McGreevy enters his first career start against the Yankees 1-7 with a 4.46 ERA in his past 13 starts.

--Field Level Media