First pitch: Saturday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Line: New York +105, Tampa Bay -115, Total: 7.5

An AL East rivalry continues when the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays go at it on Saturday night in the second of three games against each other.

The Yankees have had a slow start to the year, losing each of their first three series, but have also played a ton of close games as four of their first six defeats were by two or less runs. This is the fourth consecutive series against AL East opponents to start the year and before this one they were in Baltimore, losing two of the three contests and giving up the lead late in the finale Wednesday. New York saw five of its eight hits go for extra bases but saw its bullpen allow five runs in the sixth inning and could come back from that in a 7-5 loss. One of the extra-base hits came off the bat off DH Alex Rodriguez (.286) who has three long balls with 11 RBIs on the year. Tampa Bay’s start has been surprising after beginning the year with losses in three of the first four contests and then going 5-1 on the road since. They weren’t very easy matchups either, taking down Miami twice and then going 3-for-4 against the potent Blue Jays offense. Tampa won the final game of the set by a score of 4-2 and has given up 1.7 runs per game in its victories. SS Tim Beckham (.306) hit a big pinch-hit, two-run homer in that one and the youngster has multiple hits in three of the past six games with two homers and six RBIs heading into this series. For this divisional matchup, the Yanks will be sending RHP Masahiro Tanaka (1-1, 7.00 ERA) to the mound as he faces off against RHP Jake Odorizzi (2-0, 0.61 ERA) of the host Rays. In the previous two seasons, Tampa Bay has had no issues handling this once impressive New York squad, obtaining a 23-15 record (.605) in that time, but managed to be just 10-9 at home. They were able to take 2-of-3 contests in the final series against them last year, allowing the Yankees to score a meager four runs as two of the games were decided by a single run.

Tanaka lived up to the hype when he made his debut last year for this ball club, but elbow problems shut him down for plenty of the season. In his 20 starts (136.1 IP) he struck out 141 batters (9.3 K/9) and showed amazing control with a mere 21 walks (1.4 BB/9). He has not looked quite as sharp in his first two outings this year, though, and while he has continued to strike batters out (10 Ks in 9 IP), he already has walked five and allowed two homers. He wasn’t too dominant when he met Tampa for the first and only time last season, giving up three runs on eight hits (2 HRs) with five strikeouts (0 walks) over seven frames in a winning effort. The homers came off the bats of OF Desmond Jennings and C John Jaso, who is on the 15-day DL, and both were of the solo variety. The only active player with multiple hits is OF David DeJesus (2-for-3) while SS Asdrubal Cabrera and 3B Evan Longoria are a combined 0-for-7 in the matchup. Heading into Friday’s contest, the New York bullpen has pitched to a 1-2 record with a 2.75 ERA (1.22 WHIP) and successfully saved 2-of-3 contests. Dellin Betances (0.00 ERA, 0 saves) and Andrew Miller (0.00 ERA, 2 saves) are expected to each get save opportunities this year based on matchups but each of the first two have gone to Miller who has thrown 3.2 hitless innings with six strikeouts (2 walks).

Odorizzi had the opportunity to put up his first full season of starts in 2014 and while his 11-13 record with a 4.13 ERA isn’t all that impressive, he showed some great signs with better than a strikeout per inning (9.3 K/9) and 73.4% of batters left on base. He has carried his solid campaign over to the beginning of this year as he’s earned a win in each of his first two starts behind allowing a meager seven base runners (4 hits, 3 walks) in 14.2 frames. New York has been able to get to him in their five meetings (4 starts) as he has gone 2-1 with a 4.70 ERA (1.39 WHIP). In those outings he has allowed five home runs, struck out just 16 batters in 23 innings and given up more than a hit per inning (24). C Brain McCann (5-for-10, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs) has torched the righty as OF Brett Gardner (2-for-8, 1 HR, 2 RBIs), 1B Mark Teixeira (2-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBIs) and OF Chris Young (3-for-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI) have all left the yard against him. On the other hand, 3B Chase Headley has failed to record a hit with a walk in five plate appearances. The Ray’s bullpen has not looked great, going 1-1 with a 5.13 ERA (1.41 WHIP) and have saved 6-of-6 games before Friday. Brad Boxberger (3.38 ERA, 4 saves) has been behind most of those saves and has eight strikeouts in his 5.1 innings so far this year.