For the New York Yankees, today’s 1:05 pm matinee will be the last chance for the Yankees to get a win in the three-game series with the Rays. The Yankees lost the first two games of that series at Yankee Stadium, and that was after losing three of four games to the Rays at Tropicana Field earlier.
For the first time, this season the Yankees are facing a team that could ultimately unseat them as the odds on favorites to win the East Division. The Yankees for the most part have dominated the teams they have faced but hit a wall when facing the Tampa Bay Rays. Last night the Rays again took the game from the Yankees, with the Yankee’s ace Gerrit Cole on the mound. Cole won his first five starts but even he couldn’t solve the Rays lineup.
Add to that, the New York Yankee lineup has been very quiet in the series except for a few home runs. It has to be noted that the Yankees are playing without three key players. Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring), Aaron Judge (calf), and the “Machine”, DJ LeMahieu (thumb). The only one of them that is close to returning is Aaron Judge, that may be back on the weekend.
Today’s matinee at the Stadium against the Rays will be played on one of the nicest days of the year. The game-time temperature will be about 78 degrees with low humidity. The game will be played under bright sunny skies with a light southwest breeze. It will be televised on the YES Network, FoxSport Sun, and on the MLB Network (out of market).
Tonight, the Yankees will send out James Paxton to tackle the Rays hitters. He will be facing the Ray’s, John Curtiss. Curtiss will serve as an opener, only going an inning or two. The bulk of the pitching is projected to be by Trevor Richards.
James Paxton is coming off the best game of his season. He won an 11-5 game off the Red Sox at the Stadium. The main difference between his last game and his first two games is that he got his fastball up to just shy of 95 mph. Paxton had back surgery back in February. The late start of the season allowed him to be ready to play when the season finally started, but in his first few outings, his fastball velocity was down several miles per hour. The fact that he got it up 94.8 mph in his last game, is a good sign that he is regaining his strength.
The Yankees will face John Curtiss who will open the game for the Rays. Curtiss has pitched three games this season, he went an inning or more in all three of those games. Trevor Richards is likely to pitch most of the game. The righty Richards, although 10-21 in his three years with the Rays, he had a good year, last season going 3-0 with an ERA of 1.93 in his three starts and four games in relief.
The Yankees after the game today, will prepare to meet the New York Mets for a three-game series at the crosstown Citi Field, before again meeting the Tampa Bay Rays, again at the Stadium.