The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays meet in an AL East division matchup in MLB action from Tropicana Field on Tuesday night.
The New York Yankees will look to keep the ball rolling after a 4-2 win over the Rays in Monday’s series opener. Aaron Judge leads the Yankees with 25 home runs and 50 RBIs along with 75 hits and a .301 batting average in addition to 11 doubles while Giancarlo Stanton has 49 hits with 14 home runs and 42 RBIs. DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Rizzo also each have 10+ doubles so far this season, with Rizzo logging 19 home runs and 49 RBIs. Nestor Cortes will get the start here and is 6-2 with a 1.94 ERA and 75 strikeouts this season.
The Tampa Bay Rays will try to bounce back after yet another narrow defeat after Monday’s loss. Wander Franco has 48 hits along with 4 home runs and 19 RBIs as well as a .270 batting average while Franco has 11 doubles and Randy Arozarena also has a team-high 62 hits and a team-high 14 doubles and Brandon Lowe has a pair of triples. Manuel Margot has 27 RBIs and a .302 batting average of his own and the aforementioned Lowe also has 5 home runs this season. Kevin Kiermaier has a team-high 7 home runs of his own while Yandy Diaz has a .269 batting average as well on the year. Ji-Man Choi also has a team-high 34 RBIs up to this point. The Rays did not have a starting pitcher announced at the time that this article was posted.
New York is 9-1 in their last 10 games overall and 17-7 in their last 24 road games while the over is 4-2 in their last 6 road games. Tampa Bay is 1-5 in their last 6 games overall and 6-2 in their last 8 home games while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 games overall.
I get the case to be made for the Rays at home in this one, but the thing is that Nestor Cortes has pitched really well already twice against the Rays this season and the Rays for whatever reason just have not been able to give the Yankees the hard time that they have been able to in years past. If we can get another solid start from Cortes, I like the Yankees chances to add to their win total again.