First pitch: Monday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Line: Detroit -140, New York +130, Total: 8.5

Fresh off of a weekend sweep of the Rays, the New York Yankees head north to take on the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.

New York did not have the start to the season that it was looking for, but after losing each of its first three series’ against AL East opponents; they visited Tampa Bay and took all three contests. In the sweep they outscored the Rays 19-7 and were able to fight their way out of an early deficit to win 5-3 on Sunday afternoon. They had 11 hits in the victory and saw the bullpen put up a huge performance with 3.1 innings of shutout ball in which they allowed just two hits with six strikeouts. With another hit in this game, 3B Alex Rodriguez (.316) continued a great start to the year and was 4-for-10 with four walks, two home runs and four RBIs in the series. The Tigers have proven that they are the team to beat in the American League and come into this one outscoring their opponents 14-2 over their past four victories. They have lost just one game at home in their first six tries and that came in the recent series against the White Sox where they won 2-of-3 contests with the loss coming Saturday by a score of 12-3. They rebounded on Sunday afternoon, though, with a big 9-1 win behind 12 hits. Eight of those hits went for extra bases as OF Yoenis Cespedes (.300) had two homers and six RBIs in the game and also hit a long ball on Friday. The Yankees will send LHP C.C. Sabathia (0-2, 5.68 ERA) to the mound for this tough matchup and he will be going head-to-head with RHP Alfredo Simon (2-0, 2.03 ERA) of Detroit. The clubs have played some close games in recent years with the Yanks holding a slight 7-6 edge in the past two seasons while the Tigers have done well (4-2) when playing at home in that time. In the last series against each other, they played at Comerica Park and Detroit took 2-of-3 games, scoring a total of 12 runs with just one home run. Trends show that New York is 20-9 (.690) in road games after batting .240 or worse over a 10-game span since the start of last year as Alfredo Simon’s teams have gone 16-3 (.842) in the first half of the season over the same timeframe. Neither team is expected to have any of their offensive players out for this contest.

Sabathia has been on a steep decline over the past few years and 2014 was the first time in his 14-year career that he was unable to get at least 11 victories. He had only eight starts before sitting out the rest of the season with injuries but posted a bloated 5.28 ERA in that time despite striking out the most batters (9.4 K/9) per inning in his career. He’s had similar results to start off this season, mowing down 15 batters over his first two starts (12.2 IP), but has already given up nine runs (8 ER). He hasn’t fared all that well in his time against this Detroit team, going 19-13 (23-16 team record) with a 4.47 ERA (1.32 WHIP), but hasn’t faced them since 2013 when he went seven scoreless innings of four-hit baseball with four strikeouts (3 walks). Just like many other pitchers, Sabathia has had issues when facing 3B Miguel Cabrera who has gone 10-for-29 (.345) with two doubles, two home runs and 12 RBIs in the matchup. On the other end of the spectrum, OF Rajai Davis (7-for-40, 4 Ks), 2B Ian Kinsler (4-for-23, 2 HR, 4 RBI) and DH Victor Martinez (6-for-28, 2 HR, 3 RBI) have hit for some power, but haven’t hit well overall against the big lefty. The New York bullpen has looked great so far, going 2-2 with a 2.17 ERA (1.15 WHIP) and are 4-for-5 in save chances. Andrew Miller (0.00 ERA, 4 saves) has been amazing in his new role with six shutout innings in which he has allowed a mere two hits with 12 strikeouts (2 walks).

Simon made his way to the American League after a breakout 2014 campaign with the Reds where he earned 15 wins despite striking out just 5.8 batters per nine innings. He was able to get it done with runners on base, though, leaving 77.5% of them on base as he forced hitters in groundballs 48.2% of the time. Batters hit a mere .265 BABIP against him last year, a mark that seems unsustainable, but over the first two starts of this year, they are hitting a meager .220 BABIP. He has only five strikeouts in those outings (13.1 IP), but has remained tremendously effective with his control (1.4 BB/9). He hasn’t had any success against New York in his career with a 0-3 record (1-3 team record), 5.57 ERA (1.43 WHIP) and four homers allowed in 21 innings. Both OF Carlos Beltran (2-for-7, 1 HR, 2 RBI) and 1B Mark Teixeira (6-for-14, 1 HR, 3 RBI) have gone deep against the righty while 3B Alex Rodriguez and C Brian McCann have combined to go a putrid 1-for-8 in the matchup. The Detroit bullpen has been a sore spot for them in the past, but this year they have started out great, going 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA (1.00 WHIP) and are 5-for-6 in save opportunities. Joakim Soria (1.59 ERA, 4 saves) has been amazing in the closers role with Nathan on the DL and has given up just four hits with four strikeouts (0 walks) in 5.2 frames on the mound.