The New York Yankees on Monday went into a 4 game series against their nemesis Tampa Bay Rays. Over the past two years, the Yankees have had a losing record against the Rays, and this year has been no different. They went into Monday’s game 2-6 against them this season. Unfortunately, the Rays won Monday’s game 3-1. But the Yankees have managed to take the last two games, opening up the possibility of taking the second series in a row from the Rays. Back on May 13th, the Yankees won their first series against the Rays in the last two years. If they can do that again, it will be the first time they have accomplished that in the last four years.
Today at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the Yankees will run out their pitching ace Gerrit Cole to take on the Rays in the finale of the 4 game set. Cole has been Mr. Dependable for the Yankees. He is 6-2 with an ERA of 1.78 with an incredible 97 strikeouts on the season. This will be his third start of the season against the Rays. He is 1-1 against the Rays this season. The Yankees lost their first outing on April 18th, 4-2. His last outing against the Rays was on May 12th, when he shut out the Rays. The right-hander struck out 12 over eight scoreless innings to pick up the win in a 1-0 game.
Cole has fired quality starts in all but two of his 11 outings this year. He will have to be in top form today to beat a quality lineup that the Rays will put out against him. Unfortunately, the Yankees haven’t been hitting consistently, so it may be up to him and him alone to win the game for the Yankees. The Yankees have scored three or fewer runs in 11 of their last 14 games.
The New York Yankees will face the Ray’s lefty Ryan Yarborough He is 2-3 on the season with an ERA of 4.26 with 47 strikeouts. He has pitched better in May than he did in April. His May ERA of 3.42 in five May starts. Yarborough is mainly a reliever and is still looking for his first win as a starter. This will be his first start against the Yankees. On April 18th, he relieved for 5 innings pitching well be gave up a run and got the loss. On May 12th, he pitched well against the Yankees for 3.1 innings in a game that the Yankees shut out the Rays.
Today at 1:05 pm, the Yankees will go for the series win. It will be a nice temperature day at the Stadium, with the temperature around 70 throughout the game, but there is a slight chance of a passing shower, especially late in the game. The game will be televised on Bally Sports Sun in Florida and the New York area on the YES Network. The game will also be on MLBN nationwide out of market.