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The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays square off on Friday with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. The Yankees will start with Jameson Taillon on the mound, while Jeffrey Springs starting for the Rays.
New York (32-13) will head into Friday with the best record in the MLB, coming off a three-game winning streak. Taillon made eight starts in 2022 and has a 2.95 ERA, allowing less than 3 runs in seven appearances this season. The Yankees have the average the fifth most runs per game and still rank first in homers with Aaron Judge leading the league with 17 home runs.
Tampa Bay (26-18) swept the two-game series with the Miami Marlins earlier this week but lost the first game of this series. Springs was moved to be part of the rotation as he comes in with 12 appearances and four starts. He has a 1.32 ERA over 27.1 innings of work. The Rays average the 13th most runs per game, and Manuel Margot stayed hot after a brief stint on the injured list with 3 hits over his first two games back, increasing the batting average to .354. He has a hit in every game he played this month.
Yankees vs. Rays
Pitchers: Jameson Taillon vs. Jeffrey Springs
First pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET
Yankees local broadcast: Amazon Prime Video
Rays local broadcast: Bally Sports Sun
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run line: Yankees -1.5 (+160)
Run total: 7.5
Moneyline odds: Rays -120, Yankees +100
Moneyline pick: Yankees +100
New York is surprisingly the underdog in this matchup, and there is plenty of value on them in this spot. Both pitchers have thrown the ball well in just about every game they’ve played in 2022 so when runs will be hard to come by, let’s go with the team with the better offense.
Player prop pick: Marwin Gonzalez Over 0.5 hits (-135)
The Yankees third baseman recorded a hit in his last three games and as a switch-hitter, and he is much better against left-handed pitchers. Taking the 2021 season as a full-year sample size, Gonzalez hit .250 against lefties and .177 against righties. Look for him to keep his hitting streak going Friday night.
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