TEXAS RANGERS (36-31) at NEW YORK YANKEES (36-28)
Texas pitcher Alexi Ogando looks to continue his perfect start when the Rangers visit the Bronx on Tuesday night to begin a three-game series against the Yankees. New York will likely be without SS Derek Jeter who injured his right calf in Monday’s loss to Cleveland.
Sportsbook.com Line/Total: New York -135, Texas +125 & 8 under -115
Ogando (7-0, 2.10 ERA) has been brilliant in his 12 starts this season. He's allowed just 55 hits in 81.1 innings to go with 60 strikeouts, a major-league-leading WHIP of 0.90. His opponents' batting average of .188 ties Josh Beckett for the majors’ best mark and his opponents’ on-base percentage (.245) is tied for the MLB lead with Justin Verlander. In Ogando’s last trip to the mound last Wednesday, the right-hander threw 7.2 innings and surrendered one run and six hits in a 7-3 victory over Detroit. It marked the eighth time in 12 starts he's allowed one run or less in a game. But one of his worst performances of the season came at New York on April 17, when he allowed five earned runs, including three homers, in 6.1 innings of a 6-5 Rangers loss to the Yankees. That was just the second time all season he's given up more than two runs in a game. Ogando is 1-0 with a 5.00 ERA in five career appearances versus the Yankees (one start), but he's 2-0 with a 2.36 ERA in five road starts in 2011.
New York will send CC Sabathia (7-4, 3.15 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday. The left-hander has pitched at least six innings in 13 of 14 starts this season, but he's coming off his worst outing of the year. Sabathia matched a season-high by allowing six earned runs and eight hits in 6.2 innings of an 8-3 loss to Boston on Thursday. He had won his previous four starts prior to that game, and had pitched at least eight innings in each of those contests. Sabathia has faced Texas twice this season, picking up a win and a no-decision in two starts. In a home game versus the Rangers on April 17, a 6-5 New York win, he allowed four earned runs and eight hits in 6.1 innings, but got a no-decision. And in a 12-5 Yankees win at Texas on May 8, he pitched six innings and gave up three earned runs en route to the victory. That gave the big lefty a 10-3 lifetime record against the Rangers despite his subpar 4.57 ERA and 1.50 WHIP he carries in those 18 career starts facing Texas. Sabathia is 2-2 with a 4.07 ERA in seven home starts in 2011.
The Yankees are 4-2 against the Rangers this season. New York took two of three games from the Rangers at Yankee Stadium on April 15-April 17 and won two of three games at Texas on May 6-May 8.
