GameDay Preview: Rays Wrap Up Season Series With Yankees, Still in Good Playoff Position
NEW YORK — It was just seven days ago that Tampa Bay veteran pitcher Corey Kluber had his best outing in a Rays uniform, throwing seven scoreless innings and allowing just two hits in a 2-1 victory over the mighty New York Yankees. Seven days later, he got crushed on Saturday and the Rays lost 10-3.
It hurt, the loss, because it also gave the Yankees their 10th win against the Rays this year, which secures the season series and the potential tie-breaker if they finish tied in the American League East standings.
It's baseball and it happens, but despite the loss the Rays are still looking good in the playoff race. Baltimore, the team on the outside looking in at the moment is still a full six games behind the Rays for a wild-card spot.
Winning the division is still the goal, of course, but we've also known that was going to be a long-shot. They Rays have cut that lead from 15 1/2 games to 3 1/2, and they sit 4 1/2 games back heading into Sunday's showdown.
Luis Patino, the 22-year-old who has had some nice moments lately, gets the call on Sunday, an emotional day to be sure with the Rays playing in New York on Sept. 11
Here's how to watch Sunday's game, along with the starting lineups.
How to watch Rays at Yankees
- Who: Tampa Bay Rays (78-59) at New York Yankees (84-56)
- When: 1:35 p.m. ET, Sunday, Sept. 11
- Where: Yankee Stadium, New York, N.Y.
- TV: Bally Sports Sun
- Announcers: Dewayne Staats (play-by-play), Brian Anderson (color commentary) and Ryan Bass (reporter).
- Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
- Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM; SiriusXM Channel 176 Yankees broadcast
- Announcers: Andy Freed and Dave Wills.
- Latest Line: New York is favored at minus-130 on the money line according to the Fanduel.com website line as of Sunday morning. The Rays are at plus-110. The over/under is 8.5.
Projected starting lineups
- Tampa Bay Rays: Yandy Diaz DH, Wander Franco SS, Brandon Lowe 2B, Randy Arozarena RF, David Peralta LF, Christian Bethancourt C, Taylor Walls 3B, Jonathan Aranda 1B, Jose Siri CF, Luis Patino P.
- New York Yankees: Aaron Judge CF, Giancarlo Stanton DH, Gleyber Torres 2B, Josh Donaldson 3B, Oswaldo Cabrera RF, Migeul Andujar LF, Isiah Kiner-Falefa SS, Kyle Higashioka C, Marwin Gonzales. 1B. Domingo German P
Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.