While Cam Schlittler dominates every few games, Ben Rice seemingly is productive every day for the New York Yankees.

Rice is among the reasons the Yankees are off to a good start since losing Aaron Judge to a right rib stress fracture, and the first baseman will attempt to contribute to another victory Saturday in New York against the struggling Cincinnati Reds.

The Yankees are 10-5 since Judge last played on May 31. New York also is 16-6 in its past 22 games.

New York opened the series with a 5-0 victory on Friday. Schlittler struck out 13 batters in six dominant innings for his first career double-digit strikeout game in the regular season.

Schlittler also was supported by another big hit from Rice. The 27-year-old slugger belted a three-run homer and is batting .320 (8-for-25) with three homers and seven RBIs in his past six games.

Since May 26, Rice is hitting .333 (27-for-81) with five home runs and 19 RBIs in 20 games.

“He’s the lead man,” Schlittler said of Rice, who has 21 homers and 52 RBIs. “He’s a front-runner right now, and with Judge being out now, guys have stepped up and he’s been a huge piece of that and you expect that out of him.”

Aside from trying to quiet Rice’s bat, the Reds will attempt to generate more offense. After scoring 17 runs in a pair of wins over the New York Mets earlier this week, the Reds have scored once (an unearned run) and struck out 26 times over their past two games while facing Nolan McLean and Schlittler.

On Friday, the Reds finished with four hits and struck out a season-worst 17 times.

Eugenio Suarez struck out three times and is 11-for-58 (.190) in June. Sal Stewart is 12-for-60 (.200) this month, while Spencer Steer is 6-for-50 (.120) after fanning twice. The trio combined to go 1-for-12 in the opener at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s been a tough stretch for us,” Suarez said. “We have a really good team. At some point, we are going to be where we want to be.”

The Reds are 5-11 since losing Elly De La Cruz to a right hamstring strain. The shortstop may be close to returning after homering in his first rehab game for Triple-A Louisville on Friday.

After Schlittler’s dominant showing, Will Warren (7-1, 3.47 ERA) heads into his first career start against Cincinnati. The right-hander hopes to give the Yankees a longer outing after failing to complete five innings during no-decisions at Cleveland and at Toronto in his latest two appearances.

Warren threw 91 pitches in 4 1/3 innings of three-run ball against the Guardians on June 8. On Sunday, he fired a season-high 98 pitches in four innings while giving up two runs on eight hits against the Blue Jays.

Warren is 3-0 with a 3.48 ERA in his past six starts since allowing six runs in four innings during a 6-1 loss to Texas on May 6.

Left-hander Andrew Abbott (4-4, 3.95), who is 0-2 with a 3.91 ERA in his past four starts, gets the ball for Cincinnati on Saturday. Abbott has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his past nine starts, including a no-decision against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, when he allowed one run on four hits in five innings.

Abbott earned the win in his only career start against the Yankees. He gave up one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings during a 3-2 victory on July 3, 2024, in New York.

–Field Level Media

After posting their largest comeback win of the season, the Texas Rangers will look to carry that momentum into the second contest of a three-game set with the San Diego Padres on Saturday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.

Texas, which had dropped five of its last six games, trailed 5-0 in the first inning on Friday before answering with six runs in the bottom of the inning en route to a 9-7 win.

With his team in the American League postseason picture as the halfway point of the regular season approaches, Texas manager Skip Schumaker said he hopes his club’s tenacity in the series opener is a sign of things to come.

“It was a much-needed win, and the comeback was what this team needed to show that they can do this and that they’re capable of doing this,” Schumaker said. “Because that’s going to happen again. I promise you there’s going to be a couple runs given up again in the first inning. What are we going to do about it? How are we going to respond? Today was a big day.”

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (6-7, 4.23 ERA) will make a rare home start for Texas on Saturday.

Eovaldi, 36, has seen his turn in the rotation come on the road in six of his last seven starts. He’s searching for his first win at Globe Life Field since April 29. The veteran allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings while striking out six in a 6-4 win at the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

After sporting a 1.73 ERA in 22 starts last year, Eovaldi already has allowed more earned runs this year (41) than in all of 2025 (25). Following a solid performance in Boston, Eovaldi hopes to continue making life easy on his fellow pitchers.

“I always feel like I try to think about that,” Eovaldi said. “I think about the bullpen. I think about where we are in the standings. Everybody says it’s too early, but that’s what I focus on. I feel like I haven’t really been doing my part lately. I haven’t been going deep into games, or if I do, I give up a lot of runs.”

In seven career starts against San Diego, Eovaldi is 2-2 with a 3.35 ERA.

The Padres have dropped three of their past four games and 16 of their last 23. San Diego on Saturday will turn to right-hander Walker Buehler (4-3, 4.14 ERA), who will make his 15th start of the season.

Amid his best stretch of the season, the two-time All-Star is 1-0 with a 1.72 ERA in his last three outings and has seen his ERA drop from 5.05 since May 27.

Buehler earned a win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, allowing just one run on six hits across five innings while striking out five in a 5-2 victory.

“It was a very impressive outing for Walker,” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said. “He keeps impressing us with his competitiveness and his ability to make pitches when he needs to.”

Buehler has faced the Rangers four times (all starts), compiling a 1-2 record and a 3.72 ERA.

–Field Level Media

All indicators point toward another pitching duel on Saturday afternoon when the Atlanta Braves host the Milwaukee Brewers in the second contest of a three-game series between two first-place teams.

The National League East-leading Braves won the series opener 3-2 on Friday to halt a three-game losing streak and end a six-game home losing streak to the NL Central-best Brewers.

Atlanta on Saturday will send ace Chris Sale (8-5, 2.30 ERA) to face Milwaukee’s Kyle Harrison (8-1, 2.47) in a battle of left-handers.

Sale, the 2024 NL Cy Young winner, is working on extra rest, having not pitched since June 10. He is 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA in four starts this season in which he has had six-plus days of rest.

In his last outing, Sale allowed two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts against the Chicago Cubs. He has allowed more than three runs in only one of his 13 starts this season.

Sale has made five career starts against the Brewers, going 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA. He beat Milwaukee last year when he allowed only one run in seven innings with 11 strikeouts.

Harrison brings a seven-game winning streak into his 14th start of the season. He hasn’t lost since April 11 against Washington. Harrison most recently worked on Sunday, when he scattered three hits over six scoreless innings in a 4-0 win against Philadelphia.

It was a nice bounce-back from his previous start, which saw him allow eight runs in 2 1/3 inning vs. the Athletics, a game the Brewers rallied to win 15-14 in 12 innings. That was the only start in which Harrison has given up more than two runs. He has not allowed a run in five starts this season.

“I think with him, you’re seeing a guy that’s another competitive dude,” Milwaukee pitching coach Chris Hook said. “But extremely convicted of what he’s doing and, you know, when you start compounding some positive things on top of that, things really start rolling. I think that’s what you’re seeing with Kyle.”

Harrison has made only one career start against Atlanta, receiving a no-decision after he allowed three runs over five innings in 2024.

Atlanta beat Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski on Friday, handing the right-hander his first loss since April 19. The Braves were outhit 11-7 and were only 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position but got another clutch effort from Mauricio Dubon. He delivered a two-run single against Misiorowski in the sixth inning to give the Braves a lead they never relinquished.

Dubon is batting .394 (13-for-33) with two outs and runners in scoring position this season and has 23 two-out RBIs .

“He’s got that clutch gene, you know,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “Some people don’t believe in that, but it’s a real thing. Doobie can just slow the game down in big moments. Not everyone can do that. You can get caught up in the emotions of the moment and get carried away with it. Doobie just uses all that adrenaline too fine-tune his focus, and he’s been doing it all year. It’s not by accident.”

Dubon was in center field on Friday, replacing Michael Harris II, who is sidelined with lower back soreness for the second time this year. Weiss said the team hopes to avoid placing Harris on the injured list.

–Field Level Media