Frank Lorenzo
Texas Rangers (+173) at New York Yankees (-183, 7.5 o/u)
Tonight, the New York Yankees (22-19, 9-7 Home) return from a disastrous road trip to face the Texas Rangers (17-23, 11-10 Away) at Yankee Stadium (7:05 PM Eastern). New York will look to flamethrower Michael Pineda (5-1, 3.31 ERA) to end their current three-game skid.
Not only have the Yankees dropped three straight (two to the Nationals and one to the Royals) but they also lost seven of their last eight games to conclude their most recent road swing.
“It’s tough, man,” Carlos Beltran said to the Journal News after losing to the Nationals. “I think we had a few games we could have won. At the end of the day, the way we started the season and the way we recuperated, now we need to find a way to get out of this one.”
Pineda is as good a bet as any to get the Yanks off the schneid. In eight starts this season, he boasts a 5-1 record, best in the Yankees’ rotation. That said, his last outing was arguably his worst of the season. He allowed ten hits and five earned over 5.1 innings against the Royals.
Countering Pineda for the Rangers will be Colby Lewis (3-2, 3.06 ERA), who earned a no decision against the Indians last time out, going 5.0 innings and allowing seven hits and six runs in a 10-8 loss.
The Rangers are currently second-last in the AL West, trailing division leading Houston by 8.5 games already. The team has showed signs of life lately, though, winning three of its last four and taking two of three from the Red Sox earlier in the week. Texas earned a 3-1 win last night after Mitch Moreland hit a solo home run and drove in two runs.
The Yankees’ recent struggles dropped the squad to second in the AL East; they now trail the surprise Tampa Bay Rays by half a game, but still have a 2.5-game cushion over third-place Baltimore.
This will be the first meeting of the season between the Rangers and Yankees. Despite the teams heading in opposite directions at the moment, the Yankees are back at home and sending their ostensible ace to the mound. Pineda should be able to get them a win.
Pick: Yankees.
(Photo credit: Keith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)
