After winning their third series in a row, the New York Yankees embark on their longest road trip of the season today. Their first stop of the trip is a three-game set with the Yankees nemesis, the Tampa Bay Rays, at Tropicana Field. The Yankees will have a slightly different look as last year’s home run leader Luke Voit, and Gio Urshela will be back with the team. After Miguel Andujar went 0 for 9 with no walks in the Nationals series, he was sent down to Scranton.
To say the least, the Yankees have not fared well playing the Rays this season. In their first meeting, they won only one of three at Tropicana Field. The second time they met up with the Rays, the Rays swept the Yankees at the Stadium. The New York Yankees lost the AL East Division to the Rays last season, and the Rays again beat them in the ALDS. These two teams have built up a great dislike for each other in the last few seasons. The Yankees are hoping to change their fortunes in this third matchup of the season. The Rays are coming off a win on Sunday against the Oakland Athletics and the Yankees a walk-off win of the Nationals.
Tuesday, May 11th, 7:10 pm:
The first game of the three-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays, like the other two games, will be played in Tampa at Tropicana Field. Being a closed domed field, the weather will not be an issue for any of the games. Tuesday game will see Jordan Mongomery on the mound for the Yankees and Luis Patino for the Rays.
Jordan Montgomery won his first game in his season debut but hasn’t won a game since. His last game was against the Houston Astros, in which he had a quality start of six innings. He gave up three earned runs while striking out 4 Astros. Although he didn’t have his best command, he kept the Yankees in the game. His record is 1-1 with a 4.41 ERA. This will be his seventh start of the season.
Luis Patino is in his first year with the Rays; he came to them in the Blake Snell trade with the San Diego Padres. He has pitched in three games for 7.2 innings of work. He has a 1-0 record with an ERA of just 1.17. He is not built up to pitch entire games and likely will only go three or four innings when the Rays turn it over to the bullpen. The game will be broadcast on the YES Network, Bally Sports Sun, and on ESPN out of market.
Wednesday, May 12, 7:10 pm:
The New York Yankees will send out Yankee ace Gerrit Cole to face a yet not disclosed Ray’s starter. Cole has been the best Yankee pitcher this season. His record is 4-1 with a 1.61 ERA. His only loss of the season was his start against the Rays. He struck out 10 Rays and gave up 3 earned runs. However, in that game, he got no run support; the Yankees only had 3 hits in the game Ryan Yarbrough won.
Although the Rays have not announced a starter for the game, it will likely be Collin Mc Hugh or Andrew Kittredge. The Yankees have lucked out to a degree as they likely won’t face Tyler Glasnow in this series as he just pitched on Saturday. The game will be televised on the YES Network and Bally Sports Sun.
Thursday, May 13th, 7:10 pm:
In the Thursday finale game of the set, Jameson Taillon will take the mound for the Yankees. He is 1-2 with an ERA of 5.02. He is coming off his longest outing of the season; he got the loss but only gave up 3 runs while striking out 5 Nationals. The Yankees bullpen collapsed in that game, giving up 8 runs.
The Tampa Bay Rays starter will likely be whoever didn’t pitch in Wednesday’s game or Rich Hill. Anything can happen in baseball; the Rays could throw in a mystery pitcher in Wednesday’s or Thursday’s game. Or on Thursday, they could start Tyler Glasnow on 5-days rest. They have been using a six-game rotation. The game will be broadcast on the YES Network, Bally Sports Sun, and MLBN out of market.
Road Trip preview:
Hopefully, when the New York Yankees leave Tropicana Field with the fourth series win in a row, they will travel north to play three games at Camden Yards to face the Baltimore Orioles. They will complete their longest road trip of the season when they fly west to play four games against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.
While playing the Rangers, it will be the first time that the Yankees have played in a 100% fans-allowed stadium since the pandemic started. Although the Yankee players and staff have been fully vaccinated, they will still have to be responsible with any interactions as Texas has no mask mandate. Television cameras have shown in recent games that few were wearing masks.