Yankees at Rays 7/7/19 - MLB Picks & Predictions

AL East Division rivals will square off on Sunday afternoon, when the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays conclude their four-game series from Tropicana Field. The Yankees took the first two games of this series, but fell yesterday by a 4-3 final score. Aaron Hicks collected three hits and drove in a pair of runs for the Yankees, who are 27 games above .500 overall.

Thirty year old southpaw James Paxton (5-3 4.09 ERA) will head to the hill for the Yankees in this contest. Control has been somewhat of an issue for Paxton, who has walked 30 batters in 70 plus innings of work. The Tampa Bay Rays started off the season hitting on all cylinders, but have cooled off considerably over the last month. On Saturday, Tampa Bay C Travis d’Arnaud came through with a walk-off home run after New York had tied it up in the top of the ninth inning. SP Blake Snell struck out five batters and allowed one run in a no decision for the Rays, who trail the Yankees by 7.5 games for first place.

The Rays will counter with first time All-Star Charlie Morton (9-2 2.36 ERA) in the series finale. Last time out, Morton allowed one run and struck out 12 batters across seven innings during a 6-3 home victory versus Baltimore.