Tuesday MLB Betting Preview New York Yankees v Tampa Rays

The Yankees will be going for their third straight victory when they face the Rays in Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

New York had an extremely disappointing series against the Blue Jays, losing their first three games before defeating Toronto 5-0 in the final game of the series on Sunday. The Yankees did, however, win the first game of this three-game set against the Rays and have now won two straight after losing their previous five contests. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, has lost three straight games and six of its past eight. This team is not showing much fight recently and has scored just one run in the past two games.

RHP Adam Warren (6-6, 3.29 ERA, 88 K) will be starting this game for the Yankees and he’s going to be going up against RHP Jake Odorizzi (7-8, 3.21 ERA, 131 K) of the Rays. New York has gotten the best of this matchup on the year, going 11-6 overall and 5-3 when playing in Tampa Bay. Benefiting the Yankees in this game is the fact that they are 26-17 against the money line when facing an AL starting pitcher with an ERA of 3.50 or better this season. The Rays are also a lousy 1-6 against the money line when Odorizzi faces a team that is averaging 1.25 or more homers per game this season.

The Yankees really could have used a better performance against the Jays last series, but they’ve won two straight contests and will need to continue to win games in order to stay in the AL East race. Adam Warren is going to be starting for the team on Tuesday and it will be his first start since Jun. 25. He has pitched well out of the bullpen and allowed just three earned runs in seven innings of work when he started in Tampa Bay on May 13.

Offensively, the Yankees got a big spark from rookie OF Slade Heathcott (.389, 2 HR, 6 RBI) in a 4-1 victory over this Rays team on Monday. It was his first action since May 27 and he hit a game-winning three-run homer. 3B Alex Rodriguez (.257, 31 HR, 82 RBI) also came up huge for the Yankees, tying the game up with an RBI double on Monday. He is 4-for-10 with a homer and four RBI over the past three games and will need to continue to produce at the plate moving forward.

OF Brett Gardner (.269, 16 HR, 65 RBI) must be a bit more consistent for the Yankees as they enter the final stretch this season. He is hitless in the past two games after racking up three homers and eight RBI in the previous three games for New York. He is a much-needed bat at the top of the order and the Yankees need him to consistently be on the bases.

Jake Odorizzi is coming off of a very good outing against the Tigers on Sep. 9, allowing no earned runs in six innings of work. He struck out six batters and walked just one in the game. He did struggle against the Yankees in the previous start, giving up five earned runs in 6.2 innings pitched. He allowed three homers in the game, but should be better in a friendlier pitching environment at home.

If the Rays are going to find a way to end their struggles this season then 3B Evan Longoria (.270, 19 HR, 68 RBI) will need to be a lot better. He is one of the Rays’ best hitters and is just 0-for-9 over the past two contests. Longoria also has just one RBI in the past five games and that type of play is not going to cut it.

2B Logan Forsythe (.283, 16 HR, 59 RBI) is the other guy that Tampa Bay will be counting on to turn things around. Forsythe has the highest batting average on the team this year, but he is just 1-for-10 in the past three games. He’ll need to start getting back on base soon or this team will continue to struggle scoring runs.