The Tampa Bay Rays (20-11) and New York Yankees (16-14) will close out an American League East series on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 ET

Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees 

Tampa Bay certainly benefited from New York being without future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera on Wednesday night, coming away with a 4-1 road victory by scoring four runs in the top of the ninth inning.  The Rays have now won four of the first five games against the New York Yankees in 2012, while pushing their record to 7-5 versus divisional opponents overall.  Offensively, the team is without star third baseman Evan Longoria, as it looks to fill the void with a quartet of players.  The group is hitting .351 in his absence since May 2.  Tampa Bay is 5-4 versus left-handed starters, with the “over” going 5-3-1 in those contests.

Rays starting pitcher David Price (5-1, 2.35 ERA) has led the club to five wins in his six starts, including a 7-2 home victory over the Oakland Athletics last time out, surrendering one run and three hits over eight frames.  The left-hander is 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA in three road outings, as opponents are hitting .300 against him.  In 14 career appearances (13 starts) versus the Yankees, Price has tallied a 5-2 record and 3.96 ERA, including a 2-1 mark and 4.54 ERA in six outings at the new Yankee Stadium.

New York shouldn’t give up on David Robertson in his new role of being the team’s closer, but manager Joe Girardi will need to keep a close eye on the situation.  “This could be tough for him, but this is a pretty resilient kid,” Girardi commented after the game.  It was a surprising result in front of a nationally-televised audience, considering the right-hander didn’t allow an earned run in his previous 27 regular-season frames.  The club is now 3-5 in May, while going 34-32 over the course of this month the last two-plus years.  New York is also 1-3 as a home favorite of minus-125 to minus-150 this season.

Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia (4-0, 4.15 ERA) has led the club to five consecutive wins, including a 6-2 road win over the Kansas City Royals last time out, giving up two runs and seven hits over eight frames.  The left-hander has registered a perfect 2-0 record and 2.93 ERA in two home starts, as opposing hitters are batting just .145 against him.  In 25 career starts versus the Rays, Sabathia has tallied a winning 9-7 mark and 3.25 ERA, while receiving a no-decision in a 7-6 road setback in his first start of the 2012 campaign.  He allowed five runs and eight hits over six frames in that effort.

Bettors will likely back the Rays due to their 6-2 mark in Price’s last eight road starts, while the Yankees are 0-5 in their last five games in this series with Sabathia taking on Price.

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