Buehrle, Jays Look To Halt Yanks
Mark Buehrle will look to lead the Blue Jays to a rare road victory over the New York Yankees.
Masahiro Tanaka won his major league-leading 11th game of the season on Tuesday. Now Mark Buehrle will look to match him as the New York Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays in the middle game of a three-game set in New York.
First pitch at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.
New York (36-33, 14-16 home) earned a 3-1 victory over Toronto (41-31, 21-14 road) in the series opener on Tuesday, closing the gap between the AL East foes to 3 1/2 games.
The victory marked a 14th consecutive home win for the Yankees over the Blue Jays, and a 23rd win in 25 head-to-head games at Yankee Stadium.
Despite giving up a home run on the opening pitch of the game, Tanaka (11-1, 1.99 ERA) seemed to breeze through another outing, allowing just four hits and no runs following Jose Reyes’ leadoff blast. The Japanese rookie – currently a 2/5 favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year honors, according to Bovada – struck out 10, taking his tally on the season up to 113.
Brett Gardner hit a two-run home run in the third inning while Mark Teixeira’s single in the fifth led to Derek Jeter’s 1,900th run scored.
The win gave Tanaka an MLB-best 11 wins this season, and lowered his AL-best ERA to 1.99. For the Yankees, the victory marked a fifth success in seven games.
On Wednesday night, Joe Girardi’s side will face a pitching challenge of its own as Buehrle (10-3, 2.28 ERA) take to the hill for the Jays.
After beginning the year 10-1, the 35-year-old left-hander has lost his last two starts. On June 7, Buehrle allowed just one run against the St. Louis Cardinals, but a lack of run support and bullpen assistance saw the Jays drop the game. Last Thursday, Buehrle allowed four earned runs in a 4-2 road loss against the Baltimore Orioles.
He’ll be looking to rebound in his first outing against the Yankees this season. He’ll also be looking to snap an eight-game losing streak of his own against the Bronx Bombers.
New York will counter with another rookie enjoying an impressive start to his career. Since receiving a call up in May, Chase Whitley (2-0, 2.41 ERA) has allowed just nine runs in six starts, striking out 24 along the way.
After four straight no decisions to begin his career, the 25-year-old right-hander has won his last two starts. He pitched 7 2/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners last Thursday, allowing two earned runs in a 6-3 victory. That game saw him allow his first career home run, as Logan Morrison sent the ball out of Safeco Field.
The Yankees – plugging the gaps left by three starters on the disabled list – will hope Whitley’s success continues on Wednesday night. Having gone 6-12 at home over the last 18 games, they’ll also hope to string together a third home win in a row.
Former Yankee Melky Cabrera will look to build on a 17-game hitting streak against his former club. He singled to center in Tuesday night’s game.
Hits are one thing but runs are another. Right now, the Jays – losers of seven of their last 10 – need runs. John Gibbons’ side has scored just 17 runs over that stretch, has been shut out in three of them, and scored two or fewer in another four.
The Yankees meanwhile have tallied 28 runs over the last seven games, going 5-2 in the process.
Masahiro Tanaka’s dominant rookie season continued on Tuesday.
Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees odds for 06/18/2014
New York (-108) opened as a very narrow favorite over Toronto (-102) on the moneyline. Right now the sportsbooks are still favoring the home side but there’s not a huge amount in it.
It seems that Buehrle taking the mound has somewhat neutralized the Yankees’ dominant home form against the Jays.
The Yankees are 3-1 against the Blue Jays so far this season, having won the initial series north of the border 2-1.
The over/under opened at 9, with the under preferred. The line has moved though and right now sits at 8 1/2. The over is now preferred.
In the four meetings between the clubs this season, two have seen the over pay out and two – including Tuesday’s game – have seen the under pay out.
The total has gone under in nine of the last 13 head-to-had meetings between the clubs, including four of the last five played at Yankee Stadium.
The two clubs will close out this three-game set with a night game on Thursday (7:05 p.m. ET).
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