New York Yankees (20-16, second in the AL East) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (19-19, fourth in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Thursday, 7:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Yankees: Jameson Taillon (1-2, 5.02 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 34 strikeouts) Rays: Rich Hill (1-1, 5.17 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 32 strikeouts)
LINE: Rays +123, Yankees -143; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: New York heads into the matchup after a dominant performance by Gerrit Cole. Cole pitched eight innings, surrendering zero runs on four hits with 12 strikeouts against Tampa Bay.
The Rays are 6-8 against the rest of their division. Tampa Bay has slugged .361 this season. Mike Zunino leads the team with a mark of .513.
The Yankees have gone 9-12 against division opponents. New York has hit 48 home runs this season, third in the American League. Giancarlo Stanton leads the club with nine, averaging one every 14.1 at-bats.
The Yankees won the last meeting 1-0. Gerrit Cole earned his fifth victory and Aaron Judge went 3-for-4 for New York. Ryan Thompson registered his second loss for Tampa Bay.
TOP PERFORMERS: Austin Meadows leads the Rays with 17 RBIs and is batting .192.
Stanton leads the Yankees with nine home runs and has 24 RBIs.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 6-4, .199 batting average, 2.64 ERA, outscored opponents by 11 runs
Yankees: 8-2, .214 batting average, 3.03 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs
INJURIES: Rays: Michael Wacha: (hamstring), Chaz Roe: (shoulder), Colin Poche: (elbow), Chris Mazza: (right shoulder), Oliver Drake: (forearm), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Diego Castillo: (groin), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Chris Archer: (forearm), Nick Anderson: (elbow), Kevin Kiermaier: (left wrist), Ji-Man Choi: (knee), Francisco Mejia: (left intercostal).
Yankees: Luis Severino: (elbow), Clarke Schmidt: (right elbow), Darren O'Day: (right rotator cuff), Zack Britton: (elbow), Rougned Odor: (knee).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
