Rays and Yankees play to determine series winner

Updated Jul. 11, 2024 4:01 a.m. ET

Associated Press

New York Yankees (56-38, second in the AL East) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (45-47, fourth in the AL East)

St. Petersburg, Florida; Thursday, 6:50 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Yankees: Nestor Cortes Jr. (4-7, 3.41 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 106 strikeouts); Rays: Shane Baz (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, six strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Yankees -121, Rays +102; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees meet on Thursday with the winner claiming the three-game series.

Tampa Bay is 45-47 overall and 24-26 at home. The Rays have a 28-6 record in games when they scored five or more runs.

New York is 31-19 in road games and 56-38 overall. Yankees hitters have a collective .424 slugging percentage to rank fourth in the majors.

The teams meet Thursday for the ninth time this season. The Yankees are up 5-3 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Yandy Diaz leads the Rays with a .269 batting average, and has 17 doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 31 walks and 44 RBI. Randy Arozarena is 11-for-37 with a home run and two RBI over the last 10 games.

Aaron Judge has 23 doubles, a triple and 32 home runs for the Yankees. Gleyber Torres is 10-for-37 with a double and a home run over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 4-6, .223 batting average, 4.40 ERA, outscored by 12 runs

Yankees: 3-7, .222 batting average, 4.35 ERA, outscored by one run

INJURIES: Rays: Richard Lovelady: 15-Day IL (forearm), Jacob Waguespack: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jeffrey Springs: 60-Day IL (elbow), Drew Rasmussen: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (forearm)

Yankees: Nick Burdi: 60-Day IL (hip), Giancarlo Stanton: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Anthony Rizzo: 60-Day IL (wrist), Clarke Schmidt: 60-Day IL (lat), Cody Poteet: 15-Day IL (tricep), Ian Hamilton: 15-Day IL (lat), Jon Berti: 60-Day IL (calf), Jonathan Loaisiga: 60-Day IL (elbow), JT Brubaker: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lou Trivino: 60-Day IL (elbow), Scott Effross: 60-Day IL (back)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.