Coming off a dominant pitching performance by J.A. Happ and their sixth win in the past seven home games vs Tampa Bay, the Yankees look to continue a run here in August that has seen them win seven of their last nine games. The Bombers hit a rough patch against Tampa earlier this year, but look to have smoothed that bump out vs their division rivals. There’s been a ton of rain in New York recently, but it’s calling for clear skies tonight.
- The Yankees are 7-2 SU in their last nine games.
- The total has gone UNDER in 15 of the Rays’ last 17 games on the road against teams with winning records.
- The total has gone UNDER in eight of the Yankees’ last nine games with Luis Cessa as the starting pitcher with an average combined score of 7.78.
Mound Matchup
In a pitching matchup that’s quite unlikely to spur walk-up ticket sales this evening in the Bronx, New York sends Luis Cessa to the mound against Kevin Cash’s latest “opener,” Jacob Faria.
Faria (4-3, 4.97 ERA, 1.36 WHIP) makes his 11th start of the year for the Rays, although he’s pitched a combined total of 13.2 innings in his last four appearances, including three innings of three-hit work against Toronto on August 10. No Yankee hitter has more than four at-bats against Faria in their career. This will be Faria’s third career start against New York – the Rays won both of his starts last season, both at Yankee Stadium, by scores of 9-6 and 5-3.
Cessa (1-2, 4.50 ERA, 1.29 WHIP) has taken two weeks to get over his last appearance, a dismantling at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, where he gave up five earned runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings of relief. Cessa’s last start actually came against the Rays in Tampa on July 25. He pitched 5.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits before being tagged with the loss. Kevin Kiermaier homered for Tampa in that one.
Yankees Relying on the Long Ball
New York leads the league in home runs by a significant margin entering play on August 15. The Yankees have 194 big flies, 26 more than the second-ranked Red Sox and 86 more than their opponent tonight, the Rays. That trend has continued in August, where the Yanks have 26 jacks without Aaron Judge in the lineup. Tampa has eight home runs this month.
Giancarlo Stanton has six homers in August, Miguel Andujar has five, while Didi Gregorius, Gleyber Torres, Aaron Hicks and Neil Walker all have three.
Totals Trending UNDER in this Matchup
The run total opened at 8.5 for tonight’s game in New York. The total has gone UNDER in nine of the last 11 games in this matchup with an average combined score of just 6.18. Tampa has been able to keep things low-scoring and close against teams with winning records. Fifteen of Tampa’s last 17 road games against teams with winning records have hit the UNDER. Finally, the UNDER has hit in eight of Luis Cessa’s last nine starts, with an average combined score of 7.78.
