While the Tampa Bay Rays will bid for a three-game sweep, the Yankees will attempt to get things rolling at the plate Wednesday night when the American League East foes meet for the final time in New York.
Tampa Bay leads the season series 6-3 and has won four of six meetings in the Bronx. The Rays are seeking their first four-game winning streak since capturing seven straight victories from June 3-9.
Tampa Bay followed Monday’s 5-1 win over New York with a 5-2 victory on Tuesday.
The Rays’ Randy Arozarena broke an 0-for-21 slump with a two-run homer in the third inning. Yandy Diaz also went deep while Manuel Margot hit an RBI double and Brandon Lowe added an RBI single.
Tampa Bay has homered seven times and scored 18 runs in the past three games after dropping 16 of 22 to fall out first place in the AL East.
“I think it was just a matter of time,” Diaz said through an interpreter. “We had a few rough weeks, but it was a matter of time that we were going to go back (to normal).”
New York is 7-14 over its past 21 games. The Yankees fell to 1-4 since Aaron Judge returned from his toe injury Friday and were held to three runs or less for the 10th time since the All-Star break.
Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu hit RBI singles on Tuesday for the Yankees, who got four of their seven hits in the ninth inning.
The loss came hours after the team elected against making any additions at the trade deadline.
“It’s on us as players,” Judge said. “We’re fully capable with the guys we got in this room to go out and compete on a daily basis. The results haven’t come obviously all year, and we still got two months left in the season and we got a lot of work to do.”
Shane McClanahan (11-1, 3.00 ERA) will take the mound for Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
Since winning three straight starts June 5-16, McClanahan has five straight no-decisions and a 6.35 ERA.
McClanahan also has a 6.00 ERA in his three starts since returning from the injured list. He last pitched in Houston on Friday, when he allowed three runs on eight hits in five innings.
The left-hander is 1-3 with a 3.93 ERA in seven career starts against the Yankees. He last faced them May 13 in New York and allowed four runs on five hits over four innings in a no-decision.
On Wednesday, right-hander Gerrit Cole (9-2, 2.64) will make his fourth attempt at reaching double-digit wins for the ninth time in his career. Cole has three straight no-decisions and has a 1.40 ERA in his last three games.
Cole has allowed two runs or less 17 times this season, including Friday after he allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings before Tommy Kahnle permitted a game-ending homer to Anthony Santander in Baltimore.
Cole is 2-7 with a 3.79 ERA in 17 career starts against the Rays. He recorded a no-decision vs. Tampa Bay on both May 7 and 12 after he allowed a total of eight runs on 13 hits in 10 innings.
–Field Level Media
