Rays at Yankees
The Tampa Bay Rays were poised to win their fourth consecutive contest against the New York Yankees before Aaron Judge ignited a six-run uprising to even the four-game series at one win apiece. The Yankees aim to ride the momentum of their late rally into Wednesday's contest when the American League East rivals reconvene in the Bronx.
Judge belted a go-ahead two-run homer and Didi Gregorius ended a 1-for-23 skid with a grand slam on Tuesday as New York extended its lead to six games over Tampa Bay with an 8-3 victory. Edwin Encarnacion has gone deep three times in the first two games of the series heading into an encounter with Rays right-hander Yonny Chirinos, against whom he is 1-for-6 with a homer in his career. Tampa Bay's Austin Meadows belted a solo shot to extend his hitting streak to seven games and improve to 13-for-42 with four homers in the season series against the Yankees. The 24-year-old All-Star also went deep against Wednesday starter Domingo German in a 4-3 loss to New York on May 10.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, ESPN, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Yonny Chirinos (8-4, 3.11 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Domingo German (11-2, 3.40)
Chirinos notched a win for the first time in over one month on Friday after allowing two runs on four hits with a career-high eight strikeouts over seven innings in a 16-4 romp at Baltimore. The 25-year-old Venezuelan will make his fifth appearance against the Yankees this season after recording a 1-1 mark with a 3.32 ERA in the previous four while limiting the high-octane club to a .228 batting average. Chirinos has been consistent regardless of pitching at home or on the road, posting 4-2 marks with a 3.12 ERA away from Tropicana Field as opposed to a 3.11 ERA in Tampa.
German has returned from the injured list with a flourish, winning both starts while surrendering just one run on eight hits over 12 innings while striking out 13 without walking a batter. The 26-year-old Dominican improved to 2-0 in four career appearances versus Tampa Bay after yielding three runs on five hits in five frames on May 10. Ji-Man Choi joined Meadows in going deep off German in the fifth inning of that contest, igniting a run of 11 homers allowed in seven trips to the mound before tossing six scoreless innings versus Toronto last Friday.
WALK-OFFS
1. Tampa Bay 3B Yandy Diaz has four multi-hit performances in his last six games.
2. New York LF Brett Gardner, who denied Avisail Garcia of a possible homer on Tuesday, is 0-for-6 after entering the series with a seven-game hitting streak.
3. Rays OF Tommy Pham has struck out 21 times against the Yankees this season, including four times on Tuesday.