Rays at Yankees
The first-place New York Yankees vie for a four-game sweep of visiting Tampa Bay on Sunday after demoralizing the Rays with another walk-off victory. Brett Gardner, who homered in the 11th inning of Thursday's 6-5 victory, delivered a game-ending single to give New York a 5-4 win Saturday that pushed the Rays 4 1/2 games behind in the American League East and dropped them to 0-6 at Yankee Stadium this season.
"They're on fire right now," Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash told reporters of the Yankees. "Seems like they have a lot of things going their way. Stuff's not going our way right now, but we have to find a way to overcome it." New York, which took over first place from Boston on Friday, has won six straight games and eight of its last nine. The Rays, meanwhile, have lost three in a row and eight of their last 10 after winning four of five coming out of the All-Star break. Tampa Bay's Jacob Faria celebrates his 24th birthday Sunday after beginning his career with eight quality starts in nine outings while winning five of his first six decisions and opposes Jordan Montgomery, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in his last turn, in a matchup of rookies.
TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, FSN Sun (Tampa Bay), YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jacob Faria (5-1, 2.67 ERA) vs. Yankees LH Jordan Montgomery (7-5, 3.92)
Faria allowed three runs, seven hits and two walks while striking out five in a career-high 7 1/3 innings of a 5-4 victory over Baltimore on Tuesday. It was a strong bounce-back effort for the Californian, who yielded four runs in five innings of a 7-2 loss at Oakland on July 19. Faria, who made his major league debut June 7, boasts a 1.10 WHIP and .222 batting average against, and struck out 50 while walking 17 and permitting 46 hits in 57 1/3 innings.
Montgomery allowed a run, two hits and a walk while striking out six in 6 2/3 innings of a 4-2 victory over Cincinnati on Tuesday to snap a four-start winless streak. The 24-year-old South Carolina native yielding a career-high six runs in six innings of a 6-1 loss in Minnesota on July 19 in his previous start. Montgomery earned a no-decision against Tampa Bay on April 12 in his first career game, permitting three runs (two earned) in 4 2/3 innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. New York RF Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts Saturday and is 9-for-53 with 23 strikeouts since the All-Star break.
2. Rays 1B Lucas Duda homered Saturday, giving him a pair in two games since he was acquired from the New York Mets.
3. Yankees LHP Aroldis Chapman (4-1) earned the victory with a scoreless ninth inning Saturday and had a pitch clocked at 103.5 mph -- the fastest recorded by Statcast this season.