The Tampa Bay Rays and NY Yankees are playing live on the MLB schedule for an AL East division series on Monday and the matchup from Yankee Stadium starts at 7:05 pm ET and has Adam Warren on the mound for the Yanks against starter Nathan Karns for the duel on the mound.
The Yankees have won five of six games coming into the matchup and now they have a series with the Rays. The team comes in at 11-8 and first in the AL East and it has been a strong start for the team overall this year after a shaky first week. Adam Warren will try and keep things going for the Yankees and earlier the team swept the Rays on the road in their last matchup and outscored the team by 12 runs. Amazingly this is the first series for the Rays outside this season.
Warren is 0-1 in 11 previous games against the Rays and he had one start against the team this season, allowing four runs on six hits. Warren will get another chance, while Karns is coming in after making over 30 starts between triple A and the Rays last year. The Yankees are looking to keep things going against a suddenly hot Rays team, who have won five games in a row coming into the matchup.
The Yankees come into the game after taking two of three from the Mets and so far this season they have been very solid overall compared to expectations. The team is right in the mix in the AL East and after taking two of three from the best team in baseball and three of four from the Tigers, the team has great confidence moving forward. Alex Rodriguez hit another home run and now he is getting closer to Willie Mays and more records.
The Yankees rotation has pitched very well after dealing with a ton of injuries last season and Masahiro Tanaka was very strong in his last start too. The team needs that to keep things going and they also have A-Rod getting close to milestones and that could set up a battle between the two sides if he wants the bonus money he was promised. The Yankees have gotten good play from A-rod and so far he has not made any major waves, but clearly that could change soon.
The Rays have suddenly broken out on offense and the team is hitting over .300 and ha scored 30 runs during their winning streak. Evan Longoria is getting hot and the Rays could be one of the surprise teams in the AL this year if they keep playing at this level.
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