GameDay Preview: Rays Look to Bounce Back vs. Yankees With Jeffrey Springs on Mound
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The New York Yankees have struck first in their four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays, so now the Rays hope to even things on Friday night with red-hot Jeffrey Springs taking the mound.
Springs has tossed two straight scoreless outings as a starter, and his numbers are terrific. His earned run average of 1.32 ranks fourth in the American League among pitchers with at least 25 innings, his 0.80 WHIP is second and his opponents' batting average of .163 is fourth.
That's impressive, but he also gets the Yankees' tough lineup on Friday. The game starts at 7:10 p.m. ET.
The Rays are 26-18 and are 5 1/2 games behind the Yankees now in the American League East race. The Rays hadn’t faced a divisional deficit that large since they were seven games behind to finish the 2019 season. The Rays won the AL East in 2020 and 2021, and have the fourth-best record in the AL behind the Yankees (32-13), Astros (29-16) and Twins (27-18).
Here's how to watch Friday's game, with TV information and starting lineups and more. Rich Hollenberg is on the call tonight on TV while Dewayne Staats attends his grandson's graduation.
How to watch Yankees at Rays
- Who: New York Yankees (32-13) at Tampa Bay Rays (26-18)
- When: 7:10 p.m. ET, Friday, May 27
- Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla.
- TV: Bally Sports Sun
- Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
- Announcers: Rich Hollenberg (play-by-play), Brian Anderson (color commentary) and Tricia Whitaker (reporter).
- Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM, SiriusXM Channel 180
- Announcers: Andy Freed and Dave Wills.
- Latest line: The Rays are favored at minus-125 on the money line according to the SISportsbook.com website opening line as of Thursday afternoon. The Yankees are plus-105. The over/under is 7.5.
Projected starting pitchers
- Yankees right-hander Jameson Taillon: Jameson Taillon is 4-1 with a 2.95 earned run average through his eight starts thus far this season. It's a homecoming of sorts for the 30-year-old Taillon, who is a Lakeland, Fla. native. He's been very good this year, and his only loss was in his first start of the season.
- Rays left-hander Jeffrey Springs: The Rays have stretched out Springs into a starter and he's handled the change great. He is 2-1 on the season with a 1.32 earned run average, and he's had two straight scoreless outings covering 10 1/3 innings.
Projected lineups
- Yankees lineup: Aaron Judge CF, Anthony Rizzo 1B, Gleyber Torres 2B, Miguel Andujar LF, Matt Carpenter DH, Isiah Kiner-Falefa SS, Joey Gallo RF, Kyle Higashioka C, Marwin Gonzalez 3B, Jameson Taillon P.
- Rays lineup: Kevin Kiermaier CF, Yandy Diaz 3B, Wander Franco SS, Randy Arozarena LF, Ji-Man Choi 1B, Harold Ramirez RF, Manuel Margot DH, Vidal Brujan 2B, Mike Zunino C, Jeffrey Springs P.
Newsy nuggets
- No. 1 — Margot to DH: Tampa Bay's Manuel Margot is the designated hitter Friday night, but there's no reason to be concerned about any hamstring issues, manager Kevin Cash said. It's more precautionary than anything. Margot has hit safety in both games since returning from the injured list, and his streak is up to 13 games now, the longest current hitting streak in the American League. He is hitting .477 during the 13-game streak, the longest of his career.
- No. 2 — Digging a hole: The Rays lost the series opener Thursday night, falling 7-2 to the Yankees, and they are now just 6-9 in series openers this season. They are 20-9 in all other games, which bodes well for the rest of the four-game series.
- No. 3 — Magic number is 4: Good things happen for the Rays when they score at least four runs in a game. They are 6-15 this season when scoring three runs or less, compared to 20-3 when scoring four runs or more. They and 17-2 when scoring five runs or more, and are 23-3 when they outhit their opponent and 2-13 when recording fewer hits than their opponent.
- No. 4 — Weekend start times: The Rays and Yankees play at 4:10 p.m. ET on Saturday and at 1:10 p.m. on Sunday, so set your schedules accordingly.
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.