Yankees at Rays
The New York Yankees look to continue their offensive upswing and finish a three-game series sweep when they visit the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon. Brian McCann and Chris Young provided the key hits as the Yankees hammered the Rays 9-0 on Saturday and pushed their total to 42 runs over the last six games while winning four of those contests.
McCann broke out of a 0-for-10 swoon with three hits, including a two-run triple to snap a scoreless tie, and Young belted a grand slam to back Masahiro Tanaka’s seven shutout innings for New York’s second straight win. The Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound Sunday against the Rays, who came into the series after an impressive 5-2 road trip and are just 1-4 at home. Tampa Bay needs more from Evan Longoria, who has not recorded a multi-hit game and owns only two RBIs in the first 12 contests. David DeJesus has been the Rays' most productive hitter, going 9-of-22 with eight RBIs.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, WPIX (New York), Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Michael Pineda (1-0, 5.11 ERA) vs. Rays RH Matt Andriese (0-0, 3.86)
Pineda battled through his last start against Baltimore to gain his first victory of the season, allowing five runs and nine hits with nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. The biggest positive for the 26-year-old Dominican is that he is healthy after being limited to 13 starts last season due to injuries and a suspension. Longoria is 0-for-11 with four strikeouts versus Pineda, who was 0-1 with a 3.55 ERA in two starts against the Rays in 2014.
Andriese gets his second start as Tampa Bay awaits the return of three injured regulars from its rotation – Drew Smyly, Alex Cobb and Matt Moore. The 25-year-old UC-Riverside product permitted two runs and five hits over 3 2/3 innings in the Rays’ 3-2 victory over Toronto on Tuesday. Andriese was acquired from San Diego after the 2013 season and finished 11-8 with a 3.77 ERA at Triple-A Durham in 2014, but gave up 18 homers in 162 1/3 innings.
WALK OFFS
1. Tampa Bay OF Kevin Kiermaier, who is batting .306 in the early going with eight extra-base hits, missed Saturday’s game due to illness.
2. New York INF-DH Alex Rodriguez scored a pair of runs Saturday and leads the team with a .429 on-base percentage.
3. The Rays have committed only three errors this season and the Yankees are near the bottom of the league with 11.