Yankees at Tigers
The New York Yankees look to extend their winning streak to six games when they visit the Detroit Tigers for the opener of a three-game series Tuesday. New York salvaged the finale of a three-game set against Houston and swept a three-game series versus the Chicago White Sox before kicking off its seven-game road trip with an 8-1 triumph at Kansas City on Monday. Jacoby Ellsbury, Stephen Drew and Martin Prado homered while Michael Pineda worked 6 1/3 superb innings as the Yankees remained six games behind first-place Baltimore in the American League East.
New York also climbed within 2 1/2 games of Seattle for the second wild-card spot as it won for the seventh time in nine contests. The Tigers trail the Mariners by one-half game and moved within 1 1/2 of the first-place Royals in the AL Central thanks to the Yankees' victory on Monday. After being outscored 32-10 in losing the first two contests of its four-game set at Minnesota, Detroit reversed the trend by winning the final two matchups by a combined 21-10 margin.
TV: 7:08 p.m. ET, MY9 (New York), FSN Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Brandon McCarthy (8-12, 4.01 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Rick Porcello (14-8, 3.10)
McCarthy continued his amazing turnaround since joining New York as he tossed a four-hitter against Houston on Thursday for his fourth career shutout. The 31-year-old is 5-2 with a 1.90 ERA in eight starts for the Yankees after going 3-10 with a 5.01 mark in 18 outings with Arizona. McCarthy improved to 4-3 lifetime against Detroit on Aug. 4, when he struck out eight while limiting the Tigers to an unearned run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Porcello also is coming off a shutout as he held the Rays to three hits at Tampa Bay on Wednesday for his third career blanking - all this season. The stellar performance ended the 25-year-old's three-game losing streak that included a two-inning relief stint at Toronto on Aug. 10 in which he allowed a run on three hits and two walks. Porcello dropped to 3-3 in eight career starts against the Yankees on Aug. 7 despite giving up just one run over seven frames at New York.
WALK-OFFS
1. Yankees RF Ichiro Suzuki is tied with Hank Aaron for 13th place on the all-time list with 2,294 career singles.
2. Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera is likely to return to the lineup after sitting out Sunday's game to nurse a sore ankle.
3. New York has not won six straight games since July 1-6, 2013.