Yankees at Astros
The New York Yankees' pitching staff has been outstanding of late and hopes to continue the trend Thursday afternoon against the host Houston Astros in the finale of their four-game set. New York, which has won 11 of 12, has allowed a total of four runs in its last five contests and only two over the first three games of this series, both of which came in a loss in the opener.
The Yankees had six pitchers combine on a six-hit shutout on Tuesday before Luis Severino recorded 10 strikeouts while allowing five hits en route to his first career complete game, with both games being 4-0 victories. Giancarlo Stanton drove in all four runs on Wednesday, recording an RBI double in the eighth inning to complement his first two-homer performance since the season opener in Toronto. Houston looks to avoid losing three straight for the second time this year and break even on its 10-game homestand. Jose Altuve went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to seven games and give him at least one hit in 14 of his last 15 contests.
TV: 2:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, YES (New York), AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (4-2, 4.37 ERA) vs. Astros RH Lance McCullers Jr. (4-1, 3.71)
Tanaka appears to have recovered from a rough stretch in mid-April as he has allowed two runs and five hits over 12 2/3 innings in his last two starts - both victories. The 29-year-old native of Japan registered a season-high nine strikeouts over six frames at the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, giving up just a solo homer and a single. Tanaka went 1-1 against Houston in last year's American League Championship Series but has yet to defeat them during the regular season, going 0-2 with a ghastly 10.38 ERA in four starts.
McCullers has been sensational since being tagged for eight runs on seven hits and six walks in 3 2/3 innings at Minnesota on April 11, allowing two runs and two walks with 21 strikeouts over 20 frames in his last three starts. The 24-year-old Floridian limited Oakland to two hits and fanned seven over seven scoreless innings in a victory on Saturday. McCullers did not record a decision in one start and one relief appearance versus the Yankees in the 2017 ALCS but is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in three regular-season turns against them.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Yankees placed LHP Jordan Montgomery (elbow) - who will miss 6-8 weeks - on the 10-day disabled list, transferred OF Jacoby Ellsbury (oblique) to the 60-day DL, activated OF Clint Frazier from the seven-day concussion DL and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and purchased the contract of RHP David Hale from the RailRiders.
2. Altuve has gone hitless in only four of his 32 games this season.
3. New York SS Didi Gregorius was named the AL Player of the Month for April after hitting .327 while leading the junior circuit in homers (10), RBIs (30) and slugging percentage (.735).