AL playoff contenders will close out a three-game series on Wednesday afternoon when the New York Yankees visit the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. After New York took Monday's series opener with a 9-4 win to cash in as a -107 favorite, the two teams will meet again on Tuesday night after the time of publishing. New York owns the best record in the AL at 71-39, while the Mariners are in Wild Card position at 59-52.
These teams met just last week at Yankee Stadium, with the Mariners taking two of three on the road.
While the Yankees were able to end a five-game losing streak by handling the Mariners on Monday, they lost one of their best hitters in Matt Carpenter to a broken foot as the injury blows just keep coming. Josh Donaldson provided the offense with an RBI single in the first and long two-run homer in the third, while Andrew Benintendi had his game in a New York uniform with a pair of run-scoring doubles.
Jameson Taillon broke out of a slump on the mound, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks while striking out six across seven innings to earn the win. Donaldson went off, finishing 4-5 with two doubles, the homer, three RBI and three runs scored to pace the offense.
“I have no doubt in my mind that he’s going to still make an impact on this team even while he’s hurt,” said Taillon, to MLB.com regarding Carpenter. “He’s come in here r ight away and made an impact on a lot of people. He’s not afraid to talk pitching with the pitchers. He’s not afraid to give honest feedback.”
The Yankees are up somewhat on the money line for the season despite being a huge favorite most games while going 53-57 on the run line. Overs are 56-51-3 for the Yankees, with only two of their last seven games going under the betting total.
This is the highest-scoring offense in baseball at 5.35 runs per game on a .779 team OPS that is second-best in the bigs. New York is also an elite pitching staff, ranking third at a 3.34 ERA including a mark of 3.02 from an outstanding bullpen.
Aaron Judge is having a historic season, posting an unreal 1.068 OPS with 44 homers and 98 RBI to lead the Majors in both categories. DJ LeMahieu is also having a nice bounce-back campaign, batting .290/.393/.434 with 43 RBI and 71 runs scored.
Nestor Cortes is set to make his 21st start of the season after going 5.1 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals last Friday, allowing two runs on just one hit and four walks, striking out four in the no-decision. The 27-year-old earned an All-Star nod, having gone 9-3 with an impressive 2.57 ERA and 115:28 K:BB ratio over 112 innings this season
In addition to Carpenter, the Yankees are without slugger Giancarlo Stanton (Achillies) and outfielder Harrison Bader (plantar fasciitis). Starting pitcher Luis Severino is sidelined by a strained lat. Relievers Chad Green (Tommy John surgery), Zack Britton (Tommy John surgery), Miguel Castro (strained shoulder), Michael King (fractured elbow) and Stephen Ridings (shoulder impingement) are all out.