The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are set to play the middle game of a three-game series on Saturday. The Yankees won the first game on Friday. The Yankees, with the win, moved to 62-66 on the season. It’s too little too late, as the Yankees remain in last place in the American League East.
For the Tampa Bay Rays, they dropped to 78-52 on the season. The Rays are still second in the division and have a comfortable lead for one of the three wildcard spots in the American League.
The Tampa Bay Rays are -185 in this game over the Yankees. New York is listed at +154. The total for this game is 7.5 runs.
Bronx Bombers Looking for Second Straight
The Yankees are set to throw Clarke Schmidt in this game. Schmidt is a 27-year-old right-hander from Georgia. He is 8-7 on the season, with a 4.68 earned run average.
Schmidt has thrown 123 innings this season and struck out 121 batters. His last start was on August 20th when he went 5.2 innings and allowed two runs, but struck out 8 in a game the Yankees lost to the Red Sox.
New York cannot find their offense. Over their 9-game losing streak, the Yankees scored just 21 runs. New York’s offense has dropped all the way down to 23rd in runs scored and 29th in batting average. New York is batting .230 as a team. Gleybar Torres is the top hitter on the season but is hitting just .270 on the season.
In the win on Friday, DJ LeMahieu hit his 10th home run of the season to get the scoring started. He then hit another home run in the 8th inning. LeMahieu had three hits in the game.
He has struggled this season with his .245 average. Also in the game, Torres and Giancarlo Stanton drove in runs, and Gerrit Cole was strong with 11 strikeouts in the win.
Rays Looking to Get Back on Track
For Tampa, they will go with Tyler Glasnow. The veteran right-hander is making his 15th start of the season. Glasnow last threw on August 19th, in a 7-6 loss to the Angels.
In that game, he went six innings and allowed eight hits and seven runs. Glasnow is 6-4 on the season, with a 3.35 earned run average.
The Rays came into Friday’s game with a four-game winning streak. The Rays playoff odds were at 98.9%. So, the loss on Friday is not that big of urgency, but anytime you are chasing a playoff spot, a win makes things all the better.
Tampa Bay needs just four more wins to finish above .500 on the season. Tampa Bay is also still the best home team in the American League, with 43 wins in 66 games.
The Rays have done well with the distractions of Wander Franco. It’s likely that Franco will not play again for Tampa Bay this season. Yandy Diaz has stepped up offensively for Tampa Bay with his .326 batting average. He was the lone offensive player to drive in a run in the loss on Friday.
Schmidt Slows Rays; Wins the Game
Clarke Schmidt has shown plenty of ups and downs in his Major League Baseball career. The right-hander has the ability to shut opponents down but has shown the ability to get beat around a little bit as well.
Look for Schmidt to be sharp in this game as the Yankees get a run to upset the Rays. We are taking the New York Yankees at +154 over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday in Major League Baseball action.
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