New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays: Jordan Montgomery vs. Shane Baz

Thanks to Isaac Paredes’ three-home run night, the New York Yankees won’t have the opportunity to use their brooms against the Tampa Bay Rays for the second week in a row. They’ll still have an opportunity to use their shovels, however, as they look to snatch a series win on the road against their divisional rivals tonight at Tropicana Field and continue to bury them deep in the AL East division race.

Jordan Montgomery (3-1, 2.72 ERA, 3.54 FIP) gets the ball for the Yankees. After not recording his first win of the season until late May due to a absolute lack of run support, Monty has earned the W in three of his last four wins, thanks to the offense finally showing up when he’s on the mound; they’ve scored eight or more runs in all three starts. All the while, the left-hander has continued to stifle opposing offenses, and has allowed more than two runs in just two of his 13 starts this year.

Opposing him will be rookie and top Rays prospect Shane Baz (0-1, 5.40 ERA, 3.97 FIP), who is making his third start of the season. After beginning the year on the IL because he underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery in March, Baz was less-than-stellar in his season debut on June 11th, allowing five runs on three hits in 2.1 innings to the Minnesota Twins, striking out just two while walking three. He rebounded nicely in his second start on June 17th, shutting out the Baltimore Orioles across six innings, striking out seven while allowing just three baserunners (two hits, one hit batter).

Aaron Judge and Isiah Kiner-Falefa return to the lineup, the former having a regularly-scheduled rest day last night, the latter missing the last three games due to hamstring tightness. Outside of that return to normalcy, tonight’s lineup is a bit different from most of the ones we’re used to seeing so far this year. It’s Gleyber Torres’ and Aaron Hicks’ turns to get the night off, while Anthony Rizzo gets the half-day as the designated hitter. This all means that, with backup first baseman DJ LeMahieu starting at the keystone, Matt Carpenter grabs his first baseman’s mitt for the first time this season.

How to watch

Location: Tropicana Field — St Petersburg, FL

First pitch: 7:10 pm EDT

TV Broadcast: YES, Bally Sports Sun

Radio Broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

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