Rays at Yankees
The Tampa Bay Rays will play their first outdoor game of the season when they open a three-game series against the New York Yankees on Monday in a showdown for first place in the American League East. The surprising Rays, who have played their first 19 games in domed stadiums, are coming off a three-game sweep of Toronto to extend their winning streak to five.
Tampa Bay will be looking to avenge a three-game sweep at home by the Yankees on April 17-19 in which it was outscored 19-7. Rays star Evan Longoria went 7-for-7 over the last two games and has reached base eight straight times - one shy of the franchise mark. New York's Alex Rodriguez inched closer to a hallowed record as the Yankees took Sunday's rubber matchup against the Mets to improve to 8-2 in their last 10 games. Rodriguez went deep in the victory, putting him within one homer of tying Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time list with 660.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Tampa Bay), YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Nathan Karns (1-1, 5.32 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Adam Warren (1-1, 5.40)
Inabilities to keep the ball in the park and find the strike zone have been a hindrance to Karns, who has surrendered a pair of homers and four walks in each of his last two outings. He struck out a season-high seven and gave up only two hits over five innings versus New York on April 17 but surrendered solo blasts by Rodriguez and Stephen Drew. Karns has allowed five homers and walked 14 in 23 2/3 frames.
Warren squared off against Karns at Tampa Bay and also served up a pair of homers while not factoring in the decision in his four-inning stint. He was staked to a six-run first-inning lead at Detroit last time out but walked four batters and gave up four runs in the opening frame before settling down en route to his first victory. James Loney is 4-for-7 with a homer and five RBIs against Warren.
WALK-OFFS
1. Rodriguez went deep twice against Tampa Bay 10 days ago, including a solo shot off Karns.
2. Longoria is 11-for-19 during his five-game hitting streak.
3. Yankees CF Jacoby Ellsbury (hip) and Rays CF Desmond Jennings (knee) each sat out Sunday's games.