NY YANKEES vs. TAMPA BAY 5/12/2019 MLB Odds, Pick & Preview

The NY YANKEES and the TAMPA BAY will both be gunning for a victory on 5/12/2019 at 1:10 PM when they meet in a game matchup.

NY YANKEES vs TAMPA BAY
GAME: New York Yankees (23-16) at Tampa Bay Rays (24-14)
DATE/TIME: Sunday, May 12 – 1:10 PM EST
WHERE: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida

TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, YES (New York), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
LINE: -145
PREDICTION: Rays 3, Yankees 2

Oddsmakers currently have the TAMPA BAY listed as -145 point favorites versus the NY YANKEES, while the game’s total is sitting at 7.

The Tampa Bay Rays and visiting New York Yankees will send their aces to the mound Sunday afternoon for the rubber match of a three-game series between the top two teams in the American League East. Reigning AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell starts the finale for the Rays while New York’s veteran right-hander Masahiro Tanaka will try to cool off Yandy Diaz, who homered twice and drove in four runs for a 7-2 victory Saturday.

Snell is coming off one of his best starts of the season and Tanaka will try to recapture the form that led to a three-hitter with nine strikeouts at Tampa Bay last July – his lone shutout of 2018 and third of his career. The Rays recovered from the news earlier Saturday that right-hander Tyler Glasnow would be lost for 4-to-6 weeks with a right forearm strain by recording 10 hits and three homers, including a three-run blast in the eighth inning from Diaz (7-for-22, last five games). The Yankees won the series opener 4-3 on Friday to pull within one-half game of the first-place Rays, but managed just five hits in Saturday’s setback and went down 1-2-3 in each of the last three innings. New York’s Gleyber Torres had a pair of hits in the loss and is 22-for-63 in his past 16 games while teammate DJ LeMahieu homered and is batting .420 with 10 RBIs over his last 13 contests.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (2-3, 3.77 ERA) vs. Rays LH Blake Snell (3-3, 3.62)

Tanaka is winless in his last three outings despite posting a quality start on Tuesday when he limited Seattle to two runs over 6 1/3 innings. The 30-year-old native of Japan has struggled on the road this year, going 0-2 with a 5.17 ERA in three starts. Tommy Pham is 3-for-5 with a double and a homer versus Tanaka, who is 8-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 14 career starts against Tampa Bay.

Snell rebounded from two straight rough outings by holding Arizona to one hit over six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts in a 12-1 victory Monday. The 26-year-old Washington native has limited opponents to a .205 batting average and boasts 50 strikeouts across 37 1/3 innings overall. Gary Sanchez is 4-for-11 with three homers against Snell, who was 1-2 with a 6.08 ERA versus the Yankees last season.

WALK-OFFS

1. Tampa Bay optioned Nick Ciuffo to Triple-A Durham and fellow C Travis d’Arnaud was 0-for-3 with a walk in his debut with the club Saturday.

2. New York CF Brett Gardner is just 5-for-44 over his last 13 games to see his batting average dip to .199.

3. Rays OF-DH Avisail Garcia has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, going 14-for-39 during that stretch after homering Saturday.

PREDICTION: Rays 3, Yankees 2

Comments

comments